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NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024332631
TWO POSITIONS OF NAPOLEON.
vkctch by P. i . taken on board the " \or/hn»,b,
Frontispiece.
NAPOLEON'S
LAST VOYAGES
BEING THE DIARIES OF ADMIRAL
SIR THOMAS USSHER, R.N., K.C.B.
(ON BOARD THE "UNDAUNTED','),
AND JOHN R. GLOVER, SECRETARY
TO REAR ADMIRAL COCKBURN (ON
BOARD THE "NORTHUMBERLAND")
WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS
WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY J. HOLLAND ROSE, Litt.D.
AUTHOR OF "LIFE OF NAPOLEON I.,"
"NAPOLEONIC STUDIES," ETC.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
153-157. FIFTH AVENUE
1906
(All rights reserved.)
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction. By J. Holland Rose . . 9
Note on Thomas Ussher. By W. H. Ussher . 23
Napoleon's Deportation to Elba . . -27
Taking Napoleon to St. Helena . . . 115
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Two Positions of Napoleon, from a Sketch by
d. t., taken on board the northumberland
Napoleon and his Fellow Exiles, from a Con-
temporary Sketch, made on board the
Northumberland .....
Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher, R.N., K.C.B.
Porto Ferrajo, Elba .....
,, ,, ,, (After Horace Verne f) .
Arrival of Napoleon at Elba
A Back View of Napoleon, contrasted with
Louis XVIII.
French Caricature on the transfer of Napoleon
from the Bellerophon to the Northumber-
land .......
Contemporary French Caricature on the end
of Napoleon's Invasion of England Schemes
Embarkation of Bonaparte on board the
Bellerophon .....
Napoleon, from an Oil Sketch by Sir Charles
Eastlake ......
Bonaparte on board the Bellerophon, off
Plymouth ......
" Before and After Waterloo." A Cruickshank
Caricature ......
Napoleon on board the Bellerophon \.
The Island of St. Helena .
A rare View of the Briars, Napoleon's first
Residence at St. Helena
The New House at Longwood intended for
Napoleon ......
Longwood House, St. Helena
Boney's Meditations on the Island of St. Helena.
By Cruickshank .....
The Rat Plague at St. Helena
7
Frontispiece
Facing p.
9
23
27
69
70
103
115
117
119
121
126
147
150
220
223
224
226
229
233
NOTES ON THE PRINTS iLENT BY MR. BROADLEY.
I. Napoleon and his Fellow Exiles. (Facing p. 9.)
A copy of this rare print was purchased as "unique" at the Edwin
Truman Sale (May, 1906). It bore the names of the five personages por-
trayed in it, viz., Napoleon, in the centre, with Les Cases and Montholon
to the right, and Bertrand and Gourgand on the left. Mr. Broadley
possesses two impressions of the engraving, one in black and the other in
a greenish tint. The latter is inscribed : " W. F., drawn on the passage to
St. Helena." The head of Napoleon is almost exactly similar to that of
the coloured portrait which forms the frontispiece of Barnes's "Tour
through the Island of St. Helena" (London, 1817), stated to be the handi-
work of "a highly esteemed gentleman who was Passenger from
England to St. Helena with him (Napoleon) on the Northumberland."
Amongst Barnes's subscribers the name of " W. Fowler, Merchant of
St. Helena," figures as taking ten copies. It seems probable that he, and
not Cruickshank, was the author of the "five heads" print, although the
latter very likely etched it.
2. A Back View of Napoleon contrasted with Louis XVIII. (Facing p. 103.)
There are at least ten varieties of back views of Napoleon associated
with the period of his exile. The view now given is rare.
3. French Caricature of the Transfer. (Facing p. 115.)
This is exceedingly rare.
4. Contemporary Caricature. (Facing p. 117.)
This exceedingly scaree French caricature ridicules the practical realisa-
tion in 1815 of Napoleon's projected (1797-1805) descent on the shores of
England, under the asgis of Wellington.
5. "Before and after Waterloo" (Facing p. 147.)
George Cruickshank's caricature, published, like No. 6, in August, 1815,
contrasts the position of Buonaparte on the 17th June to the 17th July of
that year. It is somewhat rare.
6. Napoleon's Abode at St. Helena. (Facing p. 223.)
This view of the Briars, where Napoleon spent the first weeks of his
sojourn at St. Helena, is very rarely met with. Like No. 1, it is en-
graved by Hassell. The tent, erected by the sailors of the Northumber-
land, figures prominently in the view. The inscription, " Buonaparte's
Mal-Maison at St. Helena," is sufficiently humorous.
7. Boney's Meditations. (Facing p. 229.)
Mr. Bruton describes this print as "the finest of the caricatures on
Napoleon." In any case it is the best specimen of George Cruickshank's
art as applied to the " Last Phase." It was published in August, 1815,
by H. Humphrey, of St. James's Street, while the fallen despot was still
on board the Northumberland. The parody on Milton's lines describing
the Devil addressing the Sun (" Paradise Lost," Book IV.) is sufficiently
clear. The likeness is better than in the majority of the St. Helena
caricatures.
8. The Rat Plague. (Facing p. 233.)
There are over thirty caricatures of Napoleon at St. Helena in which he
is represented as tormented by rats. Most of these are of English origin,
but the one now given is French.
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INTRODUCTION
The diaries now republished in this volume are
of great interest, whether they are regarded as
historical documents or as revelations of charac-
ter. No man who has emerged from a whirlpool
of calamity has ever been more closely observed
than was Napoleon during the time which he
spent on British warships after his first and
second abdications. The opportunity afforded
by the voyages to Elba and St. Helena was in
more respects than one unexampled. They
formed the first periods of rest which he had had
for many months, and enabled him to survey the
past and to take his bearings for the present and
future. A time of rest at sea, especially if it
comes after intense mental and bodily strain, is
highly favourable to that process of mental stock-
taking which the Germans happily term " orient-
irung." It must have been so to the great
soldier and organiser who for many months had
io INTRODUCTION
wearied out ministers, prefects, secretaries, mar-
shals, privates — in fact, every one but his own
unweariable frame. The change from the cabinet
or the camp to the quarter-deck was one of those
surprising changes which loose the tongues even
of the uncommunicative ; and Napoleon did not
belong to that unattractive genus. Further, the
regular life on a British man-of-war, and the
energy shown by the bluejackets, were certain to
prompt in the great captain reflections on the
gigantic duel which he had waged against the
Island Power. The man who in 1804, and again
in 1807, had caused medals to be struck showing
himself as Hercules crushing a sea-monster, could
not fail to be deeply impressed by the signal
reversal of that pictorial prophecy which he now
experienced.
Not that Napoleon was prone to indulging in
day-dreams. The time for them, perhaps, had
scarcely come. The cloud-capped heights and
drenching rains of St. Helena were better suited
to that mental atmosphere which Lord Rosebery
has summed up in the felicitous phrase "The last
regrets " than was the machine-like discipline of
a warship. The character of the surroundings
may have occasioned, at least in part, the diffe-
rence between the tone of the reflections here set
INTRODUCTION n
forth and that of the contents of the doleful
" Journal " kept by Gourgaud at Longwood.
Both recitals have the unmistakable ring of sin-
cerity and truthfulness. Here and there Captain
Ussher and Mr. Secretary Glover may not have
caught Napoleon's words in his rapid and not
very distinct utterance ; but the diaries of the
Englishmen, like that of the malcontent French
officer at Longwood, possess one great advantage
over the other French accounts emanating from
St. Helena — they were written with no political
bias or personal animus. Every student of the
" Memorial de Ste. H61ene," so cautiously edited
by Las Cases after his return to Europe in 1822-
23, and of the Dictdes and Rfoits which Motholon
gave to the world in 1846-47, is aware that those
works were largely coloured by the desires of the
writers to present Napoleon as a Prometheus
chained by the kings to a desolate rock for the
crime of befriending man and upholding popular
liberties. As the late Sir John Seeley finely said,
"The curtain was rung down on this last pose."
The aim of the draughtsmen, as we now see, was
to favour a Napoleonic revival ; and, thanks
largely to the Rdcits, they succeeded. Those
who have read those elaborate political pamph-
lets, or the still more misleading diatribes of
i2 INTRODUCTION
O'Meara, now have the means of correcting their
estimate of the Emperor by a perusal of un-
biassed narratives such as those here printed and
the diaries kept by Colonel Neill Campbell at
Elba, and by Gourgaud, Basil Jackson, and
Lady Malcolm at St. Helena. In these we see,
not a Prometheus, not an idol set up for partisan
purposes, but a man.
The Journals are valuable, not only as his-
torical documents, but as revelations of a very
interesting personality. It is true that the fallen
hero did not reveal his inmost thoughts on the
problems of life and destiny. That was to be
expected. A sense of dignity and self-respect
doubtless led him to keep a veil drawn over the
shekinah of his being ; and we look in vain for
any of the reflections on the mutability of life
which would have furnished the fruitful stock-in-
trade to any second-rate Landor who might have
attempted to portray his feelings on the Un-
daunted or the Northumberland. What strikes
the observer is the objectivity of mind of the ex-
Emperor. One is almost tempted to call it
callousness in regard to one occasion described
by Captain Maitland, of H.M.S. Bellerophon.
It was during the transhipment from that war-
worn old craft to the Northumberland off Berry
INTRODUCTION 13
Head, Devon, when he joked with Mesdames
Bertrand and Montholon about being sea-sick.
Here we should have liked a little more sensi-
bility and reticence.
It seems, however, that the ex-Emperor had
the faculty, common to many commanders, of
excluding at will from his mental horizon all but
the circumstances of the moment. Or the inci-
dent may be classed with others which illustrate
his eager objectivity of mind, his delight in seeing
new sights and odd situations. There are intel-
lects of this order which revel in facts and objects
of all kinds. Charles Dickens, though utterly
differing from Napoleon in all else, had this
mania for observation, this craving for visual
details ; and his mind grated on itself when the
desire could not for long be gratified. Napoleon
had the same characteristic. From his father,
Charles Bonaparte, he undoubtedly derived the
restless, scheming faculty so prominent in his
career ; but from his mother he inherited that
matter-of-fact tendency which I have just noted.
The combination of the two types has helped to
make Napoleon what he was — the most fertile
weaver of plans known to history, but also the
hard, determined realist. His practicality often
screened him from the nerve-strain to which
i4 INTRODUCTION
more sensitive natures are subject ; and it helped
to sustain him during the voyages which he made
under the Union Jack. The schemes having
been cut short at Fontainebleau and Waterloo,
the maternal or objective side of his nature
asserted itself in a way which was sometimes
surprising to others but always sedative as far as
he was concerned. On embarking on the Un-
daunted at Frejus he at once fell to noticing every
detail of the ship's equipment, even the number
of boats carried. At dinner he entered into the
conversation " with great animation " ; and
throughout the passage to Elba took great
interest in questions of navigation, surprising
Captain Ussher more than once — e.g., see pp. 64,
67 — by his knowledge and powers of observation.
His behaviour on the Northumberland was at
first more reserved than it had been on the
Undaunted and the Bellerophon ; but the habit of
mind above noted soon showed itself, with the
result that he proved one of the best of ship-
mates. Few fallen potentates have faced the
dull void of their future existence with so much
of serenity ; and to the present writer it seems
that Napoleon's calmness was helped by his
faculty of encasing himself in the. present when
new objects were at hand. Not till the close of
INTRODUCTION 15
the voyage to St. Helena did he begin to sulk ;
and then not because of the heat (for the winds
south of the line were cool), but because his
observing powers had by that time sated them-
selves on the ship and the ship's company.
Foremost in interest among the topics which
he discussed with Ussher and Cockburn were
naval and military affairs. The account which
he gave to Ussher of the naval campaign which
ended at Trafalgar shows his remarkable grip of
detail. It is almost inconceivable that after nine
years his memory for figures should have been so
fresh. In the notes appended to this edition I
have called attention to inaccuracies or misstate-
ments here as elsewhere ; but it is only fair to
bear in mind that in reports of a long conversa-
tion (like that with Captain Ussher on May 9,
1814) the mistakes are probably due to the
reporter rather than to the speaker. Indirectly
this conversation throws light on the interesting
question whether Napoleon was intent on the
invasion of England.
He would surely not have remembered the
minute details of his great naval combination of
1805 na d li been designed merely as a blind in
order to lure on Austria to a premature attack by
land. This was what he asserted to the Council
1 6 INTRODUCTION
of State in 1806 (so Miot de Melito asserts), and
to Metternich when ambassador at Paris in 18 10 ;
but those who note the enormous extent of his
preparations on the northern coast in 1 804-1 805,
as set forth in his " Correspondence," and the
retentiveness of his memory, even of small
details, as proved by the conversation with
Ussher, will find it difficult to believe that he did
not really intend to strike at London. Probably
he hoped to effect a landing near the mouth of
the Thames (perhaps on the Cliffe peninsula
between Sheerness and Gravesend), and trusted
to a speedy march on the capital, and to the
confusion which would have been the result. It
is interesting to note that he was not quite sure
what he would have done next. The British
Ministers, we now know, had their plans ready
for that emergency. They would have retired
with the Court and the national treasure to
Worcester, or some place beyond the Severn,
and would there have waited until the communi-
cations of the invaders were cut by Nelson, and
their resources exhausted by guerrilla warfare.
Another topic on which these conversations
threw light is the tenacity with which Napoleon
clung to his schemes for the creation of a great
navy. The opinion prevalent in England, I
INTRODUCTION 17
believe, is that, after Trafalgar, the Emperor
gave up the naval game as hopeless. The in-
correctness of this notion will be seen by any
who will take the trouble to read Napoleon's
voluminous correspondence on maritime affairs,
especially for the months August, 1807, to June,
1808, and September, 18 10, to March, 181 1. The
fact was, that as long as he held Northern Italy
and the Netherlands, his resources for ship-
building were greater than those of the United
Kingdom ; and he might well hope to overwhelm
the islanders by weight of numbers, provided
that he had peace on the Continent. That
opportunity never came for long ; but in the
months named above he thought it had come ; and
the eagerness with which he pushed on his troops
to Cadiz in June, 1808, as also the doggedness
with which he held on to the mouths of the Elbe,
Rhine, and Scheldt in 1813-14, enable us to gauge
the grandeur of those schemes of founding a
world-wide Empire, for which a giant navy was
an indispensable preliminary. The reader will
smile as* he reads the assertion (p. 88) of the
fallen monarch that if he had remained on the
throne he would in three or four years have had
at his disposal three hundred sail-of-the-line. In
his conversation with Admiral Cockburn, fifteen
1 8 INTRODUCTION
months later, he reduced that number by one
half.
But these statements are not to be dismissed
as mere braggadocio. They represent the pro-
jection of that tenacious will on events which had
gone awry. To Napoleon the natural and
inevitable thing was that France should be the
mistress of the world. Even at St. Helena he
could never quite understand how it had fallen
out otherwise. It is strange that a man who
viewed objects and details so closely and
accurately should, at least in his later years,
have failed to gauge events in the mass at their
true significance. Was it due to a want of that
invaluable faculty of projecting oneself in imagi-
nation to the standpoint of one's opponents ?
Even in regard to details his judgment was
sometimes at fault — witness his remarks on
Waterloo (p. 147). This is the more remark-
able, seeing that in his official bulletin of the
battle he had correctly attributed the final
ddbacle to the repulse of the Guards and the
onset of the British light horse (Vandeleur's and
Vivian's brigades) on his centre. On the
Northumberland he merely repeated the parrot
cry, so prevalent at Paris after the battle, that
the defeat was due to the treason of French
INTRODUCTION 19
officers, who have never been named. The
statement that an hour more of daylight would
have altered the result is, of course, absurd-
There are, indeed, not a few statements which
illustrate one of his besetting faults, that of
mendacity ; and one at least, that in which he
sought to slander the character of that virtuous
and most unfortunate queen, Louisa of Prussia,
which proves him to have been lacking in
gentlemanly feeling. But his untruthfulness is
now and again agreeably relieved by frank
statements which redound to his own disad-
vantage. The most important of these is his
unhesitating assertion that he, and he alone, was
responsible for the condemnation of the Due
d'Enghien. As this statement exactly coincides
with the codicil which he added to his will, it
must be considered completely to demolish the
clumsy attempts of some of his apologists to
fasten the blame for the execution on Talleyrand,
or Savary, or somebody else.
Herein lies the value of these diaries, that
they rank as contemporary documents of great
importance ; they were penned at a time when
Napoleon (to use his own expressive phrase)
considered himself as "a dead man." The
time had not yet come when, with the help of
20 INTRODUCTION
Las Cases and Montholon, there was reared that
singular fabric of statecraft afterwards termed by
Montholon "la politique de Longwood." '
It remains to add that the manuscript of
Captain Ussher was received by the publisher
of this volume on May 28, 1890. A version
very similar to it was published in London in
1840, and in Dublin in 1841 ; but these have
long been out of print. The present version
first appeared in magazine form in 1893. ^ was
issued in book form by Mr. Fisher Unwin
in 1895.
The " Manuscript Diary " of Mr. Glover was
received by Mr. Fisher Unwin from the Rev.
Octavius Grindon in May, 1890. In substance
it is in most parts closely parallel to an " Extract
from a Diary of Rear-Admiral Sir George Cock-
burn," which was first published at Boston (U.S.)
in 1833, and by Messrs. Simpkin Marshall & Co.,
of London, in 1888. It is needless to go into
a minute comparison of the two narratives. At
many points they are nearly identical, though the
Admiral uses the first person, while in the
narrative here republished the Admiral's secretary,
1 " Notes and Reminiscences of a Staff Officer," by Lieut. -
Colonel Basil Jackson, p. 160.
INTRODUCTION 21
Mr. Glover, naturally uses the third person in
describing the Admiral's conversations with
Napoleon. It seems highly probable that
Admiral Cockburn dictated his diary to his
secretary, making use of the memory of the
latter with respect to the lengthy conversations
held at the dinner-table of the Northumberland.
The fact that that diary was found among Mr.
Glover's papers strengthens the supposition that
it was almost a joint production. Glover, how-
ever, certainly kept a diary of his own ; for
some details respecting the conduct or conver-
sations of Napoleon's companions, especially of
Mme. Bertrand and General Gourgaud, appear
only in his diary. The parts dealing with affairs
at Plymouth, as also at St. Helena, are far fuller
than in the Admiral's own narrative.
Still, it is clear that Glover made extensive
use of the information which he appears to have
written down at his chief's dictation ; and this
doubtless accounts for his prohibiting the publi-
cation of his own private diary. This prohibition,
so consonant with good taste, obviously could
not hold good for all time ; and in 1893 Glover's
diary appeared in magazine form. In 1895 it
was issued by the present publisher in a work
entitled " Napoleon's last Voyages," comprising
22 INTRODUCTION
the diaries of Captain Ussher and Mr. Secretary
Glover. For the Introduction and Notes the
present editor is responsible. The notes to the
edition of 1895 have not been retained except on
pp. 60, 61, 137-139. 228.
The thanks of the Editor and the Publishers
are due to Mr. A. M. Broadley for permission
to reproduce eight engravings from his very
valuable collection ; also to Messrs. G. Bell and
Sons for permission to use engravings of " Porto
Ferrajo " and " Longwood House, St. Helena."
J. H. R.
Parkside Gardens,
Wimbledon.
July, 1906.
HOM \S USHER, R N., i< C. R.
To fa., /,/.
NOTE ON THOMAS USSHER
Thomas Ussher, who was born in Dublin in
1779, was a descendant of one of the Neville
family who settled in Ireland in the reign of King
John, and assumed the name of Ussher to per-
petuate the name of the office he held at Court.
Entering the navy at the age of twelve years,
as midshipman on board the Squirrel, Thomas
Ussher was nominated acting lieutenant of the
Minotaur, seventy-four guns, in 1796. In a boat-
engagement, April, 1798, he was shot through
the right thigh. Thinking his wound was
mortal, he directed his party to retire, and then
fainted from loss of blood. The French, to their
honour, treated him and his fellow-sufferers
with the kindest attention, For many months
Mr. Ussher was obliged to use crutches ; but in
June, 1799, with the Pelicans cutter and twelve
men, he attacked a French privateer, Le
Trompeur, of five guns and seventy men, lying in
23
24 NOTE ON THOMAS USSHER
a river at San Domingo. Although the odds
were so fearfully against him, Le Trompeur was
boarded, captured, and destroyed. Altogether,
while attached to the Pelican, Mr. Ussher was in
upward of twenty boat-engagements. September,
1 800, he returned to England, and was obliged to
retire for a time on half-pay, as his wounds had
threatened to produce lockjaw. April, 1804, ne
was appointed to the command of the brig
Colpoys, attached to the blockading force under
Admiral Cornwallis off Brest. The fleet having
been blown off the coast for a time, the admiral
was in doubt as to whether the enemy had left
the port. On hearing of this, Mr. Ussher, of his
own accord, stood close inshore after dark, and,
lowering his gig, a four-oared boat, actually
entered the harbour, discovered and rowed along
the whole French line, and obtained an exact
knowledge of the enemy's force. Arriving abreast
of the French admiral's ship, he was descried, and
pursued by three boats, from which he escaped,
as well as from the boats of brigs lying in
Camaret Bay. The Colpoys joined the admiral
next day with the signal flying, " The enemy
same as when last encountered." The wound in
his thigh having broken out afresh, accompanied
by alarming symptoms, Mr. Ussher was obliged
NOTE ON THOMAS USSHER 25
to resign command of the Colpoys, but was
almost immediately promoted to the command of
the Redwing, a sloop of eighteen guns, his claims
having been backed by testimonials from Earl
St. Vincent and Admirals Cornwallis and Graves.
His conduct at Aviles had already obtained for
him a sword valued at fifty guineas from the
Patriotic Society, and he had the satisfaction of
receiving from the crew of the Colpoys a similar
token of " respect and esteem." April 20, 1806,
he was engaged in a spirited affair with a division
of gunboats and several batteries, and from this
time until August 19, in one way or another, he
was in constant collision with the enemy, continu-
ing to display the same zeal, skill, and enterprise
which had already raised his reputation so high,
and led Lord Collingwood to observe that " he
was entitled to whatever regard the admiralty
might be pleased to show him." During the
winter of 18 14 Captain Ussher was again
stationed off Toulon, and in the following April
occurred the interesting events narrated in the
following pages. He died June 6, 1848.
W. H. USSHER.
Napoleon's Last Voyages
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO
ELBA
In the month of August, 1813, I was stationed
in the Undaunted, frigate, in the Gulf of Lyons,
with the Redwing, Sir John Sinclair, and the
Espoir, the Hon. Captain Spencer, under my
orders. The latter, who had joined me some
time before, had brought me letters and papers
from England in which were various reports of
the reverses of the French army, and of the
probable downfall of the Emperor Napoleon,
with many speculations and surmises thereupon,
and hinting at the possibility of his attempting to
make his escape to America. The Courier even
went so far as to insert in its columns a minute
description of the Emperor's person, in case the
28 NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
attempt should be made. Singularly enough, I
cut out the paragraph in question, and wafered it
on the bookcase in my cabin, jokingly observing
to the other captains, who happened to be dining
with me about that time, that they had better
take a copy of it, as he might possibly come our
way ; little imagining, at the time I made this
observation, that a few short months would see
him at the very same table at which we were
then sitting. The Redwing and the Espoir after-
ward returned to England, and I remained
through the winter cruising off the coast of
France.
On April 24, 18 14, about ten o'clock at night,
being five or six leagues from the city of Mar-
seilles, in company with the Euryalus, Captain
Charles Napier, then under my orders, my
attention was attracted by a brilliant light in
the direction of, and seemingly coming from,
the town, which I conjectured was an illumina-
tion for some important event. I began to think
that the Courier might prove, after all, to be
a true prophet.
Every sail was then set on both ships, and
every exertion was made to work up the bay.
At daybreak we were close off the land. All
was apparently quiet in the batteries, and not
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 29
a flag flying ; nor were the telegraphs at work,
which was uniformly the case on the approach
of the enemy. Everything betokened that some
great change had taken place.
The morning was serene and beautiful, with a
light wind from the southward. Eager to know
what had happened, but above all anxious to
hear (for who that has once experienced the
horrors and miseries of war can wish for its
continuance?) that peace had been restored, I
sailed in toward the island of Pomegue, which
protects the anchorage of the bay of Marseilles.
To guard against a surprise, however, should
such be attempted, I took the precaution of
clearing the ship for action, and made signal
to the Euryalus to shorten sail, that in the event
of the batteries opening unexpectedly upon the
Undaunted, my friend Captain Napier, by whose
judgment and gallant conduct I had on other
occasions profited, might render me any assist-
ance, in the event of my being disabled. We
now showed our colours, and hoisted at the main
a flag of truce, and the royal standard of the
Bourbons, which the ship's tailor had made
during the night. This flag had not been dis-
played on the French coast for a quarter of a
century. Thus equipped, we were allowed to
30 NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
approach within gunshot, when we observed men
corning into the battery, and almost immediately
a shot struck us on the main-deck. Finding it
was not their intention to allow us to proceed, I
gave orders to wear ship, and hauled down the
flag of truce and standard. While wearing, a
second shot was fired, which dropped under the
counter. This unusual and unwarrantable de-
parture from the rules of civilised warfare I
resolved to notice in the only way such attacks
ought to be noticed, and determined at once, in
the promptest and most energetic way, to con-
vince our assailants that under no circumstances
was the British flag to be insulted with impunity.
I therefore again wore round, and, arriving
within point-blank shot of the battery, poured
in a broadside that swept it completely, and in
five minutes not a man was to be seen near the
guns. It was entirely abandoned.
I now made sail for a second battery, and by
signal directed the Euryalus to close, intending
to anchor off the town. Shortly afterward,
observing a boat with a flag of truce standing
out of the harbour, I shortened sail to receive it.
On coming alongside, I found she had on board
the mayor and municipal officers of Marseilles,
who had come from the town to apologise for
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 31
the conduct pursued by the batteries, intimating
that it was an unauthorised act of some of the
men. They informed me of the abdication of
Napoleon, and of the formation of a provisional
government at Paris ; I congratulated them on
the change. I assured these gentlemen that
with regard to the conduct of the batteries I
could have no hesitation in forgiving all that had
passed, and only hoped that I might be as easily
forgiven for the part I had taken ; that to prove
my confidence in the honour and loyalty of their
city, I should anchor my ship abreast of it, a
proposition of which they did not seem very
much to approve. I then made sail, with the
Euryalus in company, and dropped anchor in
the mouth of the harbour, that I might be the
better able to take advantage of any circum-
stances that might occur. Captain Napier and
I then proceeded in the barge of the Euryalus
toward the land. We found a dense crowd
collected at the landing-place, who, as we
stopped to inquire for the pratique officers,
rushed into the water, and, seizing the bow of
the boat, hauled me by main force on shore.
Never did I witness such a scene as now pre-
sented itself, as, almost choked by the embraces
of old and young, we were hoisted on their
32 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
shoulders, and hurried along, we knew not
whither. I certainly did not envy the situation
of my friend Captain Napier, whom I saw most
lovingly embraced by an old lady with one eye,
from whom he endeavoured in vain to extricate
himself, not using, I must say, the gentlest terms
our language affords. In this way we arrived at
the hdtel de ville, amid loud cries of " Vive les
Anglais ! " I We were here received by our
friends who had come with the flag of truce in
the morning, but who were evidently not pre-
pared for such a visit from us now. Indeed,
under other circumstances we should not have
been justified in appearing there as we did.
Conscious, however, that we had no infectious
disease on board, and as we had not visited any
part of the Mediterranean where the plague pre-
vailed, we endeavoured to quiet their fears, and
to satisfy them that no danger was to be appre-
hended from our visit.
However, this infringement of their sanitary
laws, the observance of which they consider so
essential to their safety, they appeared to feel
1 It should be remembered that the South of France,
especially Provence, was royalist and anti-Napoleonic in
sentiment. See " La Terreur Blanche," by E. Daudet,
(Paris, 1906).— J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 33
deeply, though I gave them every assurance of
the healthy state of the ships. Besides, as I
observed, it was no acts of ours, but had been
forced upon us by themselves, and under cir-
cumstances which we could not very weir control.
They said there was no previous instance of their
sanitary laws having been violated, except by
Napoleon when he landed from Egypt. 1 They
then invited us, with true French politeness, into
the maison de ville, remarking at the same time
how much their city had suffered in the reign
of Louis XIV. from the dreadful plague. A
magnificent picture by David, showing some of
the horrors of that visitation, hung in one of the
principal rooms of the building.
They now politely requested us to wait upon
the general in command. We found that officer
attending high mass at the cathedral, and it is
hardly possible to describe his astonishment, and
the excitement caused by seeing two British
naval officers, in their uniforms, in the midst
of the congregation. I went up to the general,
who received me with much apparent cordiality,
and with considerable tact (for we were at that
1 Bonaparte, on landing at Frejus on October 9, 1799,
was carried ashore shoulder-high by the people, in defiance
of the sanitary officers. — J. H. R.
3
34 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
time the greater " lion " of the two) invited us
to join the procession (I think it was that of the
Virgin), for which preparations had been made,
and which was about to set out from the church
where we then were.
The streets through which we passed were
excessively crowded, so much so that it was with
the utmost difficulty the procession could make
its way at all. The predominance of old people
and children among the crowd was remarkable.
Commenting upon this to some of the municipal
officers, I was told that this was caused by the
conscription, which had swept off without dis-
tinction (like another plague) all the young men
who were capable of bearing arms, causing in-
describable misery not only here, but everywhere
throughout France. Happy, indeed, were these
poor people at seeing us among them, the har-
bingers of peace, which many of them had so
long and ardently desired. That this was the
prevailing feeling among them their whole de-
meanour amply testified, as with loud vociferations
of " Vive les Anglais f" they plainly told us that
we were not unwelcome visitors.
On arriving near the general's house, we were
invited to take some refreshments, which we did ;
but the populace outside were very impatient,
NAPOLEON" S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 35
and were not satisfied until we again appeared
among them. I now began to reflect on the
singular and difficult circumstances in which I
was placed, and the responsibility I was incurring,
being positively without any information on
which I could rely as to the state of affairs
outside of Marseilles. Nevertheless, as I knew
the ships were prepared for any emergency that
might happen, and in the hand of Lieutenant
Hastings, my first lieutenant, in whose zeal and
gallantry I had the greatest possible confidence,
I did not think there was much cause for ap-
prehension, come what might. I had an idea,
indeed, that this enthusiasm would not last.
In the midst of all this rejoicing, I received a
communication from the commandant of the town,
informing me that he had been instructed by his
superior, the governor of Toulon, and commander-
in-chief of the district, to order us to our ships,
and to allow of no further communication except-
ing by flags of truce. I replied to this somewhat
insolent mandate by declaring my determination
to remain where I was, telling the commandant
pretty plainly that I should not comply with the
orders. I knew my strength, and that the ships,
by their position, had the entire command of
the town.
36 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
The governor then intimated that he would
march 3,000 men against the town ; for this also
I was prepared. During this angry discussion,
Colonel Campbell, 1 the English commissioner,
arrived, bringing with him the following very
important note :
" Marseilles, April 25, 1814. 8 p.m.
" Sir, — I have the honour to acquaint you that
Lord Viscount Castlereagh, His Majesty's Prin-
cipal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has
charged me with a mission to accompany the
late chief of the French Government, Napoleon
Bonaparte, to the isle of Elba, to whose secure
asylum in that island it is the wish of His Royal
Highness, the Prince Regent, to afford every
facility and protection. Having afterward written
to his Lordship that Napoleon had requested that
a British ship-of-war might be given to him as a
convoy to the French corvette, and at his option
1 Colonel Sir Neil Campbell was descended from the
Campbells of Duntroon, a younger branch of the House of
Argyll. He entered the army in 1797, and during the years
1808-10 served with credit in the West Indies. He after-
wards distinguished himself in the Peninsular War, and there-
after did good service to the allies in the campaigns of 18 13-14
in Central Europe and France : he was badly wounded at the
fight of Le Fere Champenoise (March 25, 1814). — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 37
for embarkation, in case of preferring it, his
Lordship wrote to me as follows :
" Dated Paris, April 18.
" ' My instructions furnish you with authority
to call upon His Majesty's officers, by sea and
land, to give all due fidelity and assistance to
the execution of the service with which you are
entrusted. I cannot foresee that any enemy can
molest the French corvette on board of which
it is proposed Napoleon shall proceed to his
destination. If, however, he shall continue to
desire it, you are authorised to call upon any of
His Majesty's cruisers (so far as the public
service may not be prejudiced) to see him safe
to the island of Elba. 1 You will not, however,
suffer this arrangement to be a cause of delay.'
" Napoleon has since his departure from Fon-
tainebleau toward St. Tropez pressed me to
proceed here for this object, which I beg leave
1 The choice of the Island of Elba for Napoleon's
residence was due almost entirely to the Czar Alexander I.
The other potentates and their plenipotentiaries pointed out
the risk of leaving Napoleon so near to Italy, where he was
still popular; but the Czar almost pledged himself for
Napoleon's good behaviour at Elba ; and a clause of the
Treaty of Fontainebleau (April n) established him there with
the title of Emperor. — J. H. R.
38 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
to submit to your consideration, hoping that,
as the desire to proceed immediately to his
destination is in unison with that of the Allied
Powers, which would be defeated by delay, in
referring to the admiral commanding His Bri-
tannic Majesty's fleet, you will find yourself at
liberty to proceed to St. Tropez with His
Majesty's ship under your command. I have
the honour to be, sir,
" Your most obedient servant,
" Neil Campbell, Col.
"Attached to the Mission of H. E. General
Viscount Cathcart.
" To Captain Ussher,
" Senior Officer of his Britannic Majesty's
ships off Marseilles."
I immediately waited upon Colonel Campbell,
who informed me that he had left Napoleon on
the road, pursuing his journey to St. Tropez,
from which place it had been arranged he
was to embark, accompanied by the envoys
of the allied sovereigns. I immediately made
arrangements for quitting the harbour of Mar-
seilles, and on the following morning (April 26)
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 39
set sail for St. Tropez, leaving Captain Napier in
command of the station.
On arriving off St. Tropez, we hoisted a red
flag at the main, that being the distinguishing
signal agreed upon with Colonel Campbell at
Marseilles. A boat immediately came out of
the harbour with a lieutenant from the French
frigate Dryade (commanded by the Comte de
Montcabri), which was lying there with the
corvette Victorieuse. The Comte sent his lieu-
tenant to inform me that the Emperor Napoleon
had abdicated, and that the Comte de Montcabri
had orders from the provisional Government
to remain at St. Tropez with the Victorieuse for
the purpose of conducting the Emperor to the
island of Elba, the sovereignty of which island
had been guaranteed to him by the allied
sovereigns (it now struck me that the red flag
at the main was considered in war a signal of
defiance). At this moment a boat came along-
side with an Austrian officer, Major Sinclair,
despatched from Frejus by Colonel Campbell,
to inform me that at the particular request of the
Emperor the commissioners of the allied sove-
reigns had thought proper to change the place
of embarkation, and requesting me to proceed to
Frejus.
40 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Frejus is an open roadstead five or six leagues
to the North of St. Tropez. Here it was that
Napoleon landed on his return from Egypt.
On arriving at the anchorage, I received a note
from Colonel Campbell, informing me that horses
had been sent down from the town, and an
orderly sergeant placed at my disposal, to carry
on any communications with the town, which
lies on a height three or four miles from the
anchorage. I took advantage of this convey-
ance, and immediately waited on Colonel Camp-
bell, who, although suffering severely from his
wounds, immediately accompanied me to the
" Chapeau Rouge," a small auberge, or hotel
(and, I believe, the only one in Frejus), where
Napoleon was lodged. Whatever my previous
feelings might have been toward this the most
powerful and constant enemy my country ever
had to contend with, I am proud to confess that
all resentment and uncharitable feeling vanished
quickly, and I felt all the delicacy of the situation
in which circumstances the most extraordinary
had placed me. His faithful follower in adversity,
Comte Bertrand, 1 was in attendance, and, having
1 Comte Bertrand (i 770-1844), distinguished as a General
under Napoleon, especially at Hanau (November, 1813). He
was, above all, noted for his fidelity to his master in and after
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 41
announced Colonel Campbell and myself, imme-
diately presented us to the Emperor.
Napoleon was dressed in the regimentals of
the Old Guard, and wore the star of the Legion
of Honour. He walked forward to meet us,
with a book open in his hand, to which he occa-
sionally referred when asking me questions about
Elba and the voyage thither. He received us
with great condescension and politeness ; his
manner was dignified, but he appeared to feel his
fallen state. Having asked me several questions
regarding my ship, he invited us to dine with him,
upon which we retired. Shortly afterwards I was
waited upon by Comte Bertrand, who presented
us with lists of the baggage, carriages, horses,
&c, belonging to the Emperor. I immediately
made arrangements for receiving them, and then
demanded an interview with the several envoys
of the allied sovereigns, feeling that, being placed
in a position of such peculiar responsibility and
delicacy, it was necessary to hear from them the
instructions they had received from their respec-
tive sovereigns, that I might shape my conduct
accordingly, and particularly that I might learn
from them what ceremony was to be observed
the first and second abdications (1814 and 1815). He was
not a man of culture or of mental power. — J. H. R.
42 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
at Napoleon's embarkation, and on arriving on
board the Undaunted, as I was desirous to treat
him with that generosity toward a fallen enemy
which is ever congenial to the spirit and feelings
of Englishmen. They informed me that their
instructions were precise and positive, and that he
was styled by the treaty of Fontainebleau, Emperor
and Sovereign of the island of Elba. I still
entertained doubts as to the propriety of receiving
him with a royal salute, but "Colonel Campbell, in
order to remove every doubt on the subject,
showed me Lord Castlereagh's instructions to
him, which were conclusive.
I now gave orders to embark the Emperor's
baggage, carriages, horses, &c. The Dryade
and the Victorieuse soon after arrived in the
roads, and anchored. On landing, the Comte
de Montcabri expressed his surprise to my first
lieutenant on seeing the baggage going on board.
But on being presented to the Emperor shortly
after, and learning his intention of embarking on
board the Undaunted, he returned to his ship,
and sailed out of the bay, in company with the
Victorieuse. The Victorieuse, I was given to
understand, was to have remained at Elba in
the Emperor's service.
The party at table consisted of Prince Schoo-
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 43
valof, Russian envoy ; Baron Koller, 1 Austrian
envoy ; Comte Truxos, Prussian envoy, and our
envoy, Colonel Campbell ; Comte Clam, aide-de-
camp to Prince Schwarzenberg ; Comte Bertrand,
Drouot, 2 and I. The Emperor did not appear
at all reserved, but, on the contrary, entered
freely into conversation, and kept it up with
great animation. He appeared to show marked
attention to Baron Koller, who sat on his right
hand. Talking of his intention of building a
large fleet, he referred to the Dutch navy, of
which he had formed a very mean opinion ; he
said that he had improved their navy by sending
able naval architects to Holland, and that he had
built some fine ships there. The Austerlitz, he
said, was one of the finest ships in the world.
In speaking of her, he addressed himself to
Prince Schoovalof, who did not seem to like
the reference. The Emperor said the only use
he could make of the old Dutch men-of-war was
1 Baron Koller, Lieut.-General, and aide-de-camp of the
Austrian army.
2 Drouot (1 774-1 847), son of a baker at Nancy, soon came
to the front in the revolutionary wars, distinguishing himself
at Wagram, Borodino, Liitzen, and Bautzen. At the close of
1813 he became aide-de-camp to Napoleon and aide-major of
the Imperial Guard. He was of a modest, reserved disposition,
noted for his honesty and trustworthiness. — J. H. R.
44 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
to fit them to carry horses to Ireland. 1 He talked
of the Elbe ; said the importance of this river
was but little known, that the finest timber for
ship-building could be brought there at a small
expense from Poland, &c.
I slept this night at Frejus, and was awakened
at four in the morning by two of the principal
inhabitants, who came into my room to implore
me to embark the Emperor as quickly as possible,
intelligence having been received that the army
of Italy, lately under the command of Eugene
Beauharnais, was broken up ; that the soldiers
were entering France in large bodies, and were as
devoted as ever to their chief. 2 These gentlemen
were afraid the Emperor might put himself at
their head. I told them I had no more to do
with embarking the Emperor than they had,
and requested them to make known their fears
1 This explains why so often in his naval plans of 1 804-1 805
Napoleon arranged for an expedition to Ireland to set out from
Dutch and Flemish ports. In justice to the Dutch seamen it
should be remembered that their navy had been ruined in his
service, and that, especially after Camperdown, they fought
unwillingly for him. See, too, Napoleon's reference to the
Dutch Admiral, Verhuel, on p. 88 — J. H. R.
2 By the Convention signed on April 16, 18 14, with the
Austrians near Mantua, Eugene, Viceroy of the Kingdom of
Italy, was allowed to send away his French troops to France.
—J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 45
and misgivings to the envoys, who, I dare say,
were as little pleased as I was at being awakened
at so unreasonable an hour.
It was, indeed, pretty evident that Napoleon
was in no hurry to quit the shores of France,
and appeared to have some motive for remaining.
The envoys became rather uneasy, and requested
me to endeavour to prevail upon him to embark
that day. In order to meet their wishes, I de-
manded an interview, and pointed out to the
Emperor the uncertainty of winds, and the
difficulty I should have in landing in the boats
should the wind change to the southward and
drive in a swell upon the beach, which, from the
present appearance of the weather, would in all
probability happen before many hours ; in which
case I should be obliged, for the safety of His
Majesty's ship, to put to sea again. I then took
leave, and went on board, and at ten o'clock re-
ceived the following note from Colonel Campbell :
"Dear Ussher, — The Emperor is not very
well. He wishes to delay embarking for a few
hours, if you think it will be possible then. That
you may not be in suspense, he begs you will
leave one of your officers here, who can make
a signal to your ship when it is necessary to
46 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
prepare, and he will also send previous warning.
I think you had better come up or send, and
we can fix a signal, such as a white sheet, at
the end of the street. The bearer has orders to
place at your disposal a hussar and a horse
whenever you wish to go up or down. Let me
know your wishes by bearer. You will find me
at General Roller's.
" Yours truly,
" N. Campbell."
Napoleon, finding that it was my determination
to put to sea, saw the necessity of yielding to
circumstances. Bertrand was accordingly directed
to have the carriages ready at seven o'clock. I
waited on the Emperor at a quarter before seven
to inform him that my barge was at the beach.
I remained alone with him in his room at the
town until the carriage which was to convey him
to the boat was announced. He walked up and
down the room, apparently in deep thought.
There was a loud noise in the street, upon which
I remarked that a French mob was the worst of
all mobs (I hardly know why I made this re-
mark). "Yes," he replied, "they are fickle
people"; and added, " They are like a weather-
cock."
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 47
At this moment Count Bertrand announced
the carriages. He immediately put on his
sword, which was lying on the table, and said,
" A lions, Capitaine." I turned from him to see
if my sword was loose in the scabbard, fancying
I might have occasion to use it. The folding-
doors, which opened on a pretty large landing-
place, were now thrown open, when there
appeared a number of most respectable-looking
people, the ladies in full dress, waiting to see
him. They were perfectly silent, but bowed
most respectfully to the Emperor, who went up
to a very pretty young woman in the midst of
the group, and asked her, in a courteous tone,
if she were married, and how many children
she had.
He scarcely waited for a reply, but, bowing
to each individual as he descended the staircase,
stepped into his carriage, desiring Baron Koller,
Comte Bertrand, and me, to accompany him.
The carriage immediately drove off at full speed
to the beach, followed by the carriages of the
envoys. The scene was deeply interesting. It
was a bright moonlight night, with little wind ;
a regiment of cavalry was drawn up in a line
upon the beach and among the trees. As the
carriage approached, the bugles sounded, which,
48 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
with the neighing of the horses, and the noise of
the people assembled to bid adieu to their fallen
chief, was to me in the highest degree interesting.
The Emperor, having left the carriage, em-
braced Prince Schoovalof, who, with Comte
Truxos, took leave, and returned to Paris, and,
taking my arm, immediately proceeded toward
the barge, which was waiting to receive us.
Lieutenant Smith (nephew of Sir Sidney Smith, 1
who, it is well known, had been for some time
confined in the Temple with Captain Wright)
was, by a strange coincidence, the officer in com-
mand of the boat. He came forward and assisted
the Emperor along the gang-plank into the boat.
The Undaunted lay close in, with her topsails
hoisted, lying to. On arriving alongside, I
immediately went up the side to receive the
Emperor on the quarter-deck. He took his
hat off and bowed to the officers, who were
all assembled on the deck. Soon afterwards
he went forward to the forecastle among the
people, and I found him there conversing with
those among them who understood a little
French. Nothing seemed to escape his obser-
vation ; the first thing which attracted his notice
1 Sir Sidney Smith, famous for his defence of Acre against
Napoleon in 1799 and his capture of Capri in 1806. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 49
was the number of boats (I think we had eleven).
Having made all sail, and fired a royal salute,
I accompanied him to my cabin, and showed
him my cot, which I had ordered to be prepared
for him. He smiled when I said I had no better
accommodation for him, and said that everything
was very comfortable, and he was sure he would
sleep soundly. We now made all sail, and
shaped our course for Elba. At four, his usual
hour, he was up and had a cup of strong coffee
(his constant custom), and at seven came on
deck, and seemed not in the least affected by
the motion of the ship. At this moment we were
exchanging numbers with the Malta, standing
toward Genoa, and I telegraphed that I had the
Emperor on board. 1 The wind having changed
to the south-east, I hauled on the larboard tack
toward Corsica. At ten we breakfasted ; Comte
Bertrand, Comte Drouot, Baron Koller, Colonel
Campbell, Comte Clam, and the officer of the
morning watch were present. Napoleon was in
very good spirits, and seemed very desirous to
show that, though he had ambition, England
was not without her share also. He said that
1 An Anglo-Sicilian force under Lord William Bentinck
and Sir Edward Pellew captured Genoa on April 18, 1814. —
J. H. R.
4
5© NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
ever since the time of Cromwell we had set up
extraordinary pretensions, and arrogated to our-
selves the dominion of the sea ; that after the
peace of Amiens Lord Sidmouth wished to renew
the former treaty of commerce, which had been
made by Vergennes after the American war ; but
that he, anxious to encourage the industry of
France, had expressed his readiness to enter into
a treaty, not like the former, which it was clear,
from the portfolio of Versailles, must be injurious
to the interests of France, but on terms of perfect
reciprocity — viz., that if France took so many
millions of English goods, England should take
as many millions of French produce in return. 1
Lord Sidmouth 2 said :
1 I have not found in my examination of the papers relating
to the Peace of Amiens any proof that Napoleon made such a
proposal. He and his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, tabooed
discussions respecting a treaty of commerce. The last phrase,
of Napoleon quoted above is (if correctly reported) a proof of
his curiously mechanical ideas on national commerce. In the
words of the Minister Chaptal, " Napoleon thought that he
could make commerce manoeuvre like a regiment" ("Mes
Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 275). — J. H. R.
2 Addington, Prime Minister from March, 1801 to May,
1804, was created Viscount Sidmouth in 1805. The famous
commercial treaty of 1786 was concluded by William Pitt
(the younger) and Vergennes, chief Minister of France in
1781-87. It was a noteworthy advance towards free trade. —
J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 51
" This is totally new. I cannot make a treaty
on these conditions."
" Very well. I cannot force you into a treaty
of commerce any more than you can force me,
and we must remain as we are, without com-
mercial intercourse."
"Then," said Lord Sidmouth, "there will be
war ; for unless the people of England have the
advantages of commerce secured to them, which
they have been accustomed to, they will force me
to declare war."
"As you please. It is my duty to study the
just interests of France, and I shall not enter into
any treaty of commerce on other principles than
those I have stated."
He stated that although England made Malta
the pretext, all the world knew that was not the
real cause of the rupture ; * that he was sincere
in his desire for peace, as a proof of which he
1 This assertion is strange, because Napoleon sought in
1803 to fasten attention on the Maltese question, which was,
technically speaking, the weakest part of the British case.
The real cause of the rupture was an essential divergence of
view on colonial and Oriental policy, in which the future of
India, Egypt, and Malta stood in vital relation. For Napoleon's
desire of war in 1803, see Lord Holland, "Foreign Remin-
iscences " (p. 234), who had this information from Gallois. —
J.H. R.
52 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
sent his expedition to San Domingo. When it
was remarked by Colonel Campbell that England
did not think him sincere, from his refusing a
treaty of commerce, and sending consuls to
Ireland, with engineers to examine the harbours,
he laughed, and said that was not necessary, for
every harbour in England and Ireland was well
known to him. Bertrand remarked that every
ambassador was a spy.
Napoleon said that the Americans admitted
the justness of his principles of commerce. For-
merly they brought over some millions of tobacco
and cotton, took specie in return, and then went
empty to England, where they furnished them-
selves with British manufactures. He refused to
admit their tobacco and cotton unless they took
from France an equivalent in French produce ;
they yielded to his system as being just. 1 He
added that now England had it all her own way,
that there was no power which could successfully
oppose her system, and that she might now
impose on France any treaty she pleased. " The
Bourbons, poor devils [here he checked himself],
1 This is a straining of the facts. The United States in
November-December, 1810, were overreached by Napoleon's
diplomacy. See H. Adams, "History of the United States
(1801-1813)."— J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 53
are great lords who are contented with having
back their estates and castles ; but if the French
people become dissatisfied with that [the treaty],
and find that there is not the encouragement for
their manufactures in the interior of the country
that there should be, they [the Bourbons] will be
driven out in six months. 1 Marseilles, Nantes,
Bordeaux, and the coast are not troubled by that,
for they always have the same commerce ; but in
the interior it is another thing. I well know
what the feeling is for me at Terrare, 2 Lyons,
and those places which have manufactures, and
which I have encouraged." 3
He said that Spain was the natural friend of
1 This is one sign among many that in 18 14 he still
cherished great hopes of reigning once more in France. His
popularity at Lyons, St. Etienne, &c, which was due to his
protective tariff, was to be seen in March, 1815. — J. H. R.
2 "Terrare" should be Tarare, north-east of Lyons. —
J. H. R.
3 " Les Bourbons, pauvres diables [here he checked him-
self], ils sont des grands seigneurs qui se contentent d'avoir
leurs terres et leurs chateaux, mais si le peuple francais devient
mecontent de cela, et trouve qu'il n'y a pas l'encouragement
pour leurs manufactures dans l'interieur qu'il devrait avoir, ils
seront chasses dans six mois. Marseille, Nantes, Bordeaux, et
la cdte ne se soucient pas de cela, car ils ont toujours le meme
commerce, mais dans l'interieur c'est autre chose. Je sais
bien comment l'esprit etait pour moi a Terrare, Lyon, et ces
endroits qui ont des manufactures, et que j'ai encourages."
54 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
France and enemy of Great Britain ; that it was
the interest of Spain to unite with France in
support of their commerce and foreign posses-
sions ; that it was a disgrace to Spain to allow us
to hold Gibraltar. It was only necessary to
bombard it night and day for a year, and it must
eventually fall. He asked if we still held Cintra.
He did not invade Spain, he said, to put one of
his family on the throne, but to revolutionise her ;
to make her a kingdom in right ; to abolish the
inquisition, feudal rights, and the inordinate
privileges of certain classes. 1 He spoke also of
our attacking Spain without a declaration of war,
and without cause, and seizing the frigates bring-
ing home treasure. 2 Some one remarked that
we knew Spain intended to make common cause
with him as soon as the treasure should arrive.
1 This, of course, is an explanation after the event. There
is no proof from Napoleon's Correspondence of January-
August, 1808, that he was actuated by philanthropic motives
towards the Spanish people. Spain and the Spanish naval
resources unquestionably entered very largely into the great
designs for controlling the Mediterranean and the Orient,
which he had closely at heart in the summer of 1808. —
J. H. R.
2 On this question see the remarks of an impartial judge,
Captain Mahan, of the United States Navy, " Influence of Sea
Power on the French Revolution and Empire," vol. ii.
chap. xv. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 55
He said he did not want it ; all he had was five
millions (francs) per month. 1
On my asking a question regarding the Wal-
cheren expedition, he said he could not hold Wal-
cheren with less than 14,000 men, half of whom
would be lost annually by disease ; and as he had
such means in the neighbourhood of Antwerp, it
could at any time be attacked, and by means of
superiority of numbers must fall ; that the expe-
dition against it was on too great a scale and too
long preparing, as it gave him time. He added
that he wrote from Vienna that an expedition was
going to Antwerp ; he thought that a coup de main
with 10,000 men and with his preparation would
have succeeded ; laughed at our ignorance in suffer-
ing so much time to be lost, and in settling down
before Flushing (whereby we lost a large pro-
portion of our army through disease) instead of
advancing rapidly on Antwerp ; and seemed
astonished at our Government's selecting such a
commander-in-chief for so important an ex-
pedition.
After breakfasting, Napoleon read for some
1 The sum really was 6,000,000 francs a month. For the
whole conversation, see the account (rather fuller in some
details) in Sir Neil Campbell's Journal "Napoleon at Fon-
tainebleau and Elba" (London, 1869), pp. 201-4. — J- H. R.
56 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
hours, and came on deck about two o'clock,
remaining two or three hours, occasionally re-
marking what was going forward, as the men
were employed in the ordinary duties of the
ship, mending sails, drawing yarns, exercising
the guns, &c.
After dinner, he referred to a map of Toulon
Harbour, and went over the whole of the opera-
tions against Lord Hood and General 0'Hara(he
commanded the artillery there as major). All
the other officers, he said, were for a regular
siege. 1 He gave in a memoir proposing to drive
off the fleet from the inner harbour, which, if
successful, would place the garrison of Toulon
in danger ; that it was upon this occasion he felt
the superiority of the new tactics. He related an
anecdote of one of the representatives of the
people ordering his battery to fire, and unmasking
it too soon.
This evening a small Genoese trading-vessel
passed near us. I ordered her to be examined,
and, as Napoleon was anxious to know the news,
1 This is not quite correct. The Commissioners of the
French Convention had previously put forward a plan for
reducing Toulon which in its general outlines resembled that
of Bonaparte. The energy of the latter certainly carried the
plan through successfully. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 57
I desired the captain to be sent on board.
Napoleon was on the quarter-deck ; he wore a
great-coat and round hat. As he expressed a
wish to question the captain, I sent him to the
Emperor on the after part of the quarter-deck,
and afterward ordered him down to my cabin.
"Your captain," said he, "is the most extra-
ordinary man I ever met ; he puts all sorts of
questions to me, and, without giving me time to
reply, repeated the same questions to me rapidly
a second time." When I told him to whom he
had been speaking, he appeared all astonishment,
and instantly ran on deck, hoping to see him
again ; but Napoleon, to his great disappoint-
ment, had already gone below. When I told
Napoleon the man had remarked the rapidity
with which he put questions to him twice over,
he said it was the only way to get at the truth
from such fellows.
One morning when Napoleon was on deck, I
ordered the ship to be tacked, and we stood
toward the Ligurian coast. The weather was
very clear as we approached the land. We had
a fine view of the Alps. He leaned on my arm
and gazed at them with great earnestness for
nearly half an hour ; his eye appeared quite fixed.
I remarked that he had passed those mountains
58 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
on a former occasion under very different circum-
stances. He merely said that it was very true. 1
The wind was now increasing to a gale. He
asked me, laughing, if there was any danger,
which was evidently meant to annoy Baron
Koller, who was near him, and who had no great
faith in the safety of ships, and whom he con-
stantly joked on his bad sailorship, as the Baron
suffered dreadfully from sea-sickness. He made
some observations to me as to our men's allow-
ance of provisions, and seemed surprised that
they had cocoa and sugar, and asked how long
they had had that indulgence. I told him they
were indebted to him for it ; that the Continental
system had done this good for sailors, that as we
could not send our cocoa and sugar to the Con-
tinent, the Government had made that addition
to the allowance of the men. We now tacked
and stood over toward the Corsican shore, passing
a small vessel that he was very anxious for me
to hail for news. I told him we could not get
near enough for that purpose, as she was to wind-
ward, crossing us on the opposite tack. We were
1 This was in the spring of 1796, when, at the beginning of
his first campaign, he defeated first the Austrians and then the
Sardinians in the mountainous country north of Savona. —
J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 59
then at table ; he whispered to me to fire at her
and bring her down. I expressed my surprise at
his request, as it would denationalise her (referring
to his Milan decree). 1 He pinched my ear, and
laughed, remarking that the Treaty of Utrecht
directs that when vessels are boarded it shall be
done out of gunshot. It was on this occasion, he
said, that England was not prepared for the steps
he took in retaliation, upon her blockading an
entire line of coast from the river Elbe to Brest ;
it was that which forced him to take possession of
Holland. 2 America behaved with spirit, he said ;
adding that he thought their state correspondence
was very well managed, and contained much
sound reasoning. I asked him if he issued his
famous Milan decree for the purpose of forcing
1 The Milan Decree of December 17, 1807, carried his
methods of commercial war against England, styled the
Continental System, to great lengths. By it he declared that
all neutral vessels which submitted to the British maritime
regulations were thereby denationalised, and would be a good
prize. — J. H. R.
* The British Order in Council of April 26, 1809, ordered
that the British blockade of the Napoleonic lands should be
limited to Holland, France, and Italy. Napoleon annexed
the Kingdom of Holland in July, 18 10, owing to his resolve
to put an end altogether to the trade between Holland and
England — a measure which the King, Louis Bonaparte, would
not carry out to the Emperor's satisfaction. — J. H. R.
60 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
America to quarrel with us. He said he was
angry with America for suffering her flag to be
denationalised. 1 He spoke long on this subject,
and said that America had justice on her side ; he
rather expected America to invade Mexico. He
said the expedition against Copenhagen was most
unjust, and from every point of view bad policy ;
and that, after all, we only took a few vessels that
were of no use to us ; that the gross injustice of
attacking a weaker nation, without a cause and
without a declaration of war, did us infinite harm. 2
I observed that it was at that time believed that
their fleet was sold to him.
In speaking of Toulon, he remarked that he
1 All this is exactly as in original. — W. H. U. Napoleon
had several disputes with the United States on naval and
commercial matters, chiefly because their ships, after bringing
American produce to France, used to call at British ports and
carry back British goods. This, in his view, denationalised
them, and he captured and confiscated as many as possible.
Mexico was a possession of Spain, then an ally of France. —
J. H. R.
2 The British expedition to Copenhagen in August, 1807
(not to be confused with Nelson's attack in the spring of
1801), was due to the knowledge gleaned by British
diplomatists and Ministers of Napoleon's resolve after the
Treaty of Tilsit (July 7, 1807), to coerce Denmark, and
probably make use of her fleet. For proof, see " Napoleonic
Studies,' by J. H. Rose, pp. 133-165 ; also the Edinburgh
Review for April, 1906.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 61
found great inconvenience in being obliged to
complete the provisions and stores after the ships
went out of the inner harbours, as it gave infor-
mation of his intentions to British cruisers. To
avoid this, he sent the Rivoli out from Venice on
a camel, 1 with her guns, stores, and provisions on
board. He meant to form an establishment for
building men-of-war at Bouc, near the mouth of
the Rhone, instead of at Toulon, the timber of
which was to be brought there by a canal from
the Rhone, and that he intended to make Toulon
a port of equipment. In speaking of Cherbourg,
he described the basin cut out of the solid rock,
with docks for ships, executed by his orders, and
drew with a pencil on a plan I have of the town
a line of fortifications erected for its defence
against any expedition from England, which it
seemed he expected. The entrance is mined
at each side. The Empress Marie Louise visited
Cherbourg (when he was in Dresden) at the
completion of the works last year. He said he
had in his possession what would be invaluable
to England, and spoke of the weak and strong
points of the empire. Some remarks arising from
1 A water-tight structure placed beneath a ship to raise it
in the water, in order to assist its passage over a shoal or
bar.
62 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
this observation, he said, " France is nothing
without Antwerp; for, while Brest and Toulon
are blockaded, a fleet can be equipped there,
wood being brought from Poland." He never
would consent to give it up, having sworn at his
coronation not to diminish France. He had the
Elbe sounded and surveyed carefully, and found
that it was as favourable as the Scheldt for great
naval establishments near Hamburg. 1
He told me his plans for the navy were on a
gigantic scale ; he would have had three hundred
sail of the line. 2 I observed that it was im-
possible for him to man half the number. He
said the naval conscription, with the enlistment
of foreigners which he could have from all parts
of Europe, would supply men enough for the
whole of the navy ; that the Zuyder Zee is
particularly well fitted for exercising conscripts.
1 These statements are of great interest as showing his
resolve to have a great navy. They bear also on the question
whether, during the Hundred Days (1815), he was really
content with the confines of the old monarchy, as restored
in 18 14, which assigned the Belgic Netherlands to Holland.
The British Ministry was equally desirous in 1813-1814 not
to make peace until Antwerp was severed from France. See
" Castlereagh's Letters," 3rd series, vol. i. p. 74. — J. H. R.
2 See Introduction, p. 17. The substance of this conver-
sation was reported by Captain Ussher to Lord Holland. See
" Foreign Reminiscences," by Lord Holland, p. 274. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 63
Having expressed some doubts as to the merits of
his conscript sailors, he said I was mistaken, and
asked my opinion of the Toulon fleet, which I had
had frequent opportunities of seeing manoeuvre
in the presence of our fleet. He begged I would
tell him frankly what I thought of it.
The conscripts were trained or exercised for
two years in schooners and small craft, and his
best officers and seamen were appointed to
command them. They were constantly at sea,
either to protect the coasting trade or for
exercising. He had not calculated on their
becoming perfect seamen by these means, but
had intended to send squadrons out to the East
and West Indies, not for the purpose of attacking
the colonies, but for perfecting the men, and
annoying, at the same time, the commerce of
England. 1 He calculated upon losing some
ships, but said he could spare them ; that they
would be well paid for.
While on this subject, he surprised me by
explaining to Baron Koller, and that very well,
a very nice point of seamanship, viz., that of
keeping a ship clear of her anchor in a tideway.
He admired much the regularity with which the
1 He pursued these plans after Trafalgar. See my article
in the Independent Review for November, 1905. — J. H. R.
64 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
duty of the ship was carried on, everything being
so well timed, and, above all, the respect observed
by different ranks of officers to one another and
to the quarter-deck. He thought this most
essential to good discipline, and was not surprised
that we were so jealous of the slightest deviation
from it. He said that he endeavoured to intro-
duce this into the French navy, but could not
drive it into the heads of his captains.
The wind still continuing to the eastward, with
a heavy sea, we stood in to get well within the
Corsican shore. Having carried away the leech-
ropes of the fore- and maintopsails, we repaired
them aloft, close reefed them, and sent down
topgallant-yards and royalmasts. There now
being every appearance of bad weather, I men-
tioned my intention, if the gale increased, of
anchoring at Bastia. Napoleon seemed most
desirous that we should anchor at Ajaccio. I
explained to him that it was much out of our
course. He proposed Calvi, with which he was
perfectly acquainted, mentioning the depth of
water, with other remarks on the harbour, &c,
which convinced me that he would have made us
an excellent pilot had we touched there. 1
1 Bonaparte was brought up among Corsican sailors. At
the military school at Brienne, in eastern France, he was
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 65
This evening we fell in and exchanged numbers
with the Berwick, Aigle, and Alcmene, with a
convoy. I invited Sir John Lewis and Captain
Coghlan to dine with me. When they came on
board I presented them to Napoleon ; he asked
them various questions about their ships, their
sailing and other qualities. Captain Coghlan was
not a little surprised by his asking him if he were
not an Irishman and a Roman Catholic. All this
night we carried sail to get inshore, the Aigle
and Alcrriene keeping company. At daylight we
saw the town of Calvi bearing south. Napoleon
was on deck earlier than usual ; he seemed in
high spirits, looked most earnestly at the shore,
asking the officers questions relative to landing-
places, &c. As we closed with the shore the
wind moderated. During the bad weather
Napoleon remained constantly on deck, and
was not in the least affected by the motion of the
ship. This was not the case, however, with his
attendants, who suffered a good deal.
The wind now coming off the land, we hauled
close inshore. Napoleon took great delight in
examining it with his glass, and told us many
at first recommended for the navy ; and only a chance
circumstance led to the change of this plan. See Chuquet,
" La Jeunesse de Napoleon " (Brienne), p. 137. — J. H. R.
5
66 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
anecdotes of his younger days. We rounded a
bold, rocky cape, within two or three cables'-
lengths, and Napoleon, addressing himself to
Baron Koller, said he thought a walk on shore
would do them good, and proposed landing to
explore the cliffs. The Baron whispered that he
knew him too well to trust him on such an ex-
cursion, and begged me not to listen to his
suggestion.
We now hauled in toward the Gulf of St.
Florent, fired a gun, and brought to a felucca
from Genoa, who informed us that Sir Edward
Pellew, the commander-in-chief, and fleet were
lying there. We then shaped our course for
Cape Corso, which we passed in the night. In
the morning we tacked, and stood toward Capraja
Isle, and, observing colours flying at the castle,
stood close in and hove to. A deputation came
off from the island, requesting me to take posses-
sion of it, and informing me that there was a
French garrison in the castle. I accordingly sent
Lieutenant Smith with a party of seamen to hoist
the British colours for its protection. Napoleon
held a long conversation with the members of the
deputation, who expressed the utmost surprise at
finding their Emperor on board an English man-
of-war. Having now made all sail, and shaped
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 67
our course for Elba, Napoleon became very
impatient to see it, and asked if we had every
sail set. I told him we had set all that could be
of any use. He said, "Were you in chase of an
enemy's frigate, should you make more sail ? "
I looked, and, seeing that the starboard top-
gallant stunsail was not set, observed that if I
were in chase of an enemy I should certainly
carry it. He replied, that if it could be of use
in that case, it might be so now. I mention this
anecdote to show what a close observer he was ;
in fact, nothing escaped him. When the man
stationed at the masthead hailed the deck that
Elba was right ahead, he became exceedingly
impatient, went forward to the forecastle, and
as soon as the land could be seen from the deck
was very particular in inquiring what colours
were flying on the batteries. He seemed to
doubt the garrison's having given in their ad-
hesion to the Bourbons, and, it appears, not
without some reason, as they had, in fact, done
so only during the preceding forty-eight hours ;
so that, if we had had a fair wind, I should have
found the island in the hands of the enemy, and
consequently must have taken my charge to the
commander-in-chief, 1 who would, no doubt, have
1 That is, Sir Edward Pellew, then at Genoa.— J. H. R.
68 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
ordered us to England. On nearing Elba,
General Drouot, Comte Clam (aide-de-camp to
Prince Schwarzenberg), and Lieutenant Hastings,
the first lieutenant of the Undaunted, were sent
ashore, commissioned by Napoleon to take pos-
session of the island. Colonel Campbell accom-
panied them. They were conducted to the house
of General Dalheme, who had received orders
from the provisional Government only two days
before, in consequence of which he and his troops
had given in their adhesion to Louis XVIII.,
and had hoisted the white flag. The general
expressed his desire to do whatever should be
agreeable to the Emperor.
May 3, 1814. — One part of Drouot's instruc-
tions from Napoleon mentioned his desire to
receive the names of all officers, non-commis-
sioned officers, and privates who would wish to
enter into his service. He desired also a deputa-
tion of the principal inhabitants to come off to
him. About 8 p.m. we anchored at the entrance
to the harbour, and soon after the deputation
waited upon Napoleon. There had been originally
about 3,000 troops, but the desertion and the dis-
charge of discontented foreigners had reduced the
number to about 700. The island had been in a
state of revolt for several weeks, in consequence
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 69
of which the troops were shut up in the fortifica-
tions which surrounded the town of Porto Ferrajo.
During the night an Austrian officer was sent
off in one of my boats to Piombino, to invite a
renewal of communication and to obtain news,
&C 1 This was done by a letter from the com-
missioners to the commandant, who, however,
politely declined communication with us, at the
same time stating that he had written to his
superior for his permission to do so.
May 4. — Napoleon was on deck at daylight,
and talked for two hours with the harbour-master,
who had come on board to take charge of the
ship as pilot, questioning him minutely about the
anchorage, fortifications, &c. At six we weighed
anchor, and made sail into the harbour ; anchored
at half-past six at the Mole Head, hoisted out all
the boats, and sent some of the baggage on shore.
At eight the Emperor asked me for a boat, as he
intended to take a walk on the opposite side of
the bay, and requested me to go with him. He
wore a great-coat and a round hat. Comte
Bertrand, Colonel Campbell, and Colonel Vincent
(chief engineer) went with us ; Baron Koller
1 Piombino, formerly an appanage to the Principality of
Lucca held by Elisa Bonaparte, was now occupied by the
Austrians. — J. H. R.
7o NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
declined doing so. When half-way ashore
Napoleon remarked that he was without a
sword, and soon afterward asked if the peasants
of Tuscany were addicted to assassination. x We
walked for about two hours. The peasants,
taking us for Englishmen, cried, " Viva ! "
which seemed to displease him.
We returned on board to breakfast. He after-
ward fixed upon a flag for Elba, requesting me to
remain while he did so. He had a book with all
the ancient and modern flags of Tuscany ; he
asked my opinion of that which he had chosen.
It was a white flag with a red band running
diagonally through it, with three bees on the
band (the bees were in his arms as emperor of
France). He then requested me to allow the
ship's tailor to make two, one of them to be
hoisted on the batteries at one o'clock. At
2 p.m. the barge was manned ; he begged me to
show him the way down the side of the vessel,
which I did, and was soon followed by the
Emperor, Baron Koller, Comte Bertrand, and
1 It is curious that the first question Napoleon asked of
Sir Hudson Lowe at St. Helena was whether the Corsicans
were not bad people, addicted to the use of the dagger. The
Emperor always had a poor opinion of the Italians, including
those of his native isle. — J. H. R.
- ' "■ r '- "r^^ Willi IT "
OP NAPOLEON \T ELI
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 71
Comte Clam. The yards being manned, we
fired a royal salute, as did two French corvettes
which were lying in the harbour at that time.
The ship was surrounded by boats with the
principal inhabitants and bands of music on
board ; the air resounded with shouts of " Vive
HEmpereur ! Vive Napoleon ! " On landing, he
was received by the prefect, the clergy, and all
the authorities, and the keys were presented to
him on a plate, upon which he made a com-
plimentary speech to the prefect, the people
welcoming him with loud acclamations.
We proceeded to the church through a double
file of soldiers, and thence to the hotel de ville,
where the principal inhabitants were assembled,
with several of whom he conversed. Remarking
an old soldier in the crowd (he was a sergeant,
I believe, and wore the order of the Legion of
Honour), he called him to him, and recollected
having given him that decoration on the field
of battle at Eylau. 1 The old soldier shed tears ;
the idea of being remembered by his Emperor
fairly overcame him. He felt, I doubt not, that
it was the proudest day of his life. Napoleon
1 For Napoleon's wonderful memory of faces and incidents,
see Chaptal (" Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 337), who says,
" Napoleon avait toute son armee dans sa tete." — J. H. R.
72 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
afterward mounted a horse, and, attended by a
dozen persons, visited some of the outworks,
having, before leaving the ship, invited me to
dine with him at seven o'clock. I ordered all
my wine and stock to be handed to him for his
use, the island being destitute of provisions of
that sort.
May 5. — At 4 a.m. I was awakened by shouts
of " Vive £ Empereur ! " and by drums beating ;
Napoleon was already up, and going on foot over
the fortifications, magazines, and storehouses.
At ten he returned to breakfast, and at two
mounted his horse, and I accompanied him two
leagues into the country. He examined various
country-houses, and gave money to all the poor
we met on the road. At seven he returned to
dinner. I should remark that, before leaving the
Undaunted, Napoleon requested that a party of
fifty marines might accompany him, and remain
on shore ; but this he afterward changed to an
officer and two sergeants, one of whom, O'Gorum
(one of the bravest and best soldiers I ever met,
and to whom the Emperor had taken a great
fancy), he selected to sleep on a mattress outside
the door of his bedchamber, with his clothes and
sword on. A valet de chambre slept on another
mattress in the same place, and if Napoleon lay
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 73
down during the day, the sergeant remained in
the antechamber.
May 6. — At 6 a.m., we crossed the bay in my
barge, and found horses waiting for us. We
rode to Rion to see the famous iron mountains.
We visited several mines, and likewise a temple
built by the ancients, and dedicated by them to
Jupiter. 1 The road to the latter is highly
romantic and beautiful, but is difficult of access,
being situated on the summit of a steep and
lofty mountain. This obliged us to dismount,
and we walked through a thick covert of
beautiful trees and shrubs till we arrived at the
temple. We saw also a small museum very
nicely kept, which contained many fine speci-
mens of the ores of the adjoining mines, two
or three of which Napoleon presented to me.
He expressed a wish to see the principal mine,
and, when everything was prepared, asked Baron
Roller, me, and one or two of the party to
accompany him. The others politely declined ;
I, however, accepted his invitation. Two guides
with torches accompanied us.
1 Virgil calls Ilva (Elba)—
" Insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis."
(Mn. x. 173).
In 1814 the iron mines yielded 500,000 francs to the revenue
(Sir Neil Campbell's "Journal," p. 253).— J. H. R.
74 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
When we arrived at the middle of what ap-
peared to be an immense cavern, the guides
suddenly struck the ground with their torches,
and all the cave became instantly and splendidly
illuminated. At the moment I expected an ex-
plosion ; Napoleon may have thought so too,
but he very coolly took a pinch of snuff, and
desired me to follow him.
At Rion the " Te Deum" was chanted, I
suppose for the first time, as the officiating priest
did not seem to understand his business. In
passing through Rion a salute was fired, and
Napoleon was received with loud acclamations
of " Vive I Empereur ! " The people seemed
very anxious to see him : several old women pre-
sented petitions, and numbers pressed forward to
kiss his hand. At five we embarked- in the
barge, and crossed the harbour to Porto Ferrajo.
At seven we sat down to dinner. He spoke of
his intention of taking possession of Pianosa,
a small island without inhabitants, about ten
miles from Elba. He said, "All Europe will
say that I have already made a conquest." J
Already he had plans in agitation for conveying
1 "Toute l'Europe dira que j'ai deja fait une conquete."
In the middle of May, Napoleon sent some troops to annex
Pianosa. See Sir Neil Campbell's " Journal," p. 233. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 75
water from the mountains to the city. It appears
always to have been considered by him of the first
importance to have a supply of good water for
the inhabitants of towns, and upon this occasion
it was evidently the first thing that occupied his
mind, having, almost immediately after arrival,
requested me to go with him in the barge in
search of water. 1
One day, exploring for this purpose, he re-
marked the boats of the Undaunted getting water
in a small creek ; he said he was quite sure that
good water was to be found there. I asked him
why he thought so. He said, " Depend upon it,
sailors know where to find the best. There are
no better judges." We landed at this place, as
he desired to taste the water. Jack made the
rim of his hat into what is called a " cocked hat,"
and filled it with water. Napoleon was amused
at the contrivance, tasted the water, and pro-
nounced it excellent. The channeling of the
streets he also thought of the greatest im-
portance, and requested me to allow the
carpenter of the ship to go to him (having
learned he was a tolerably good engineer), that
he might consult him about forcing the sea-water
1 For his eager resolve to supply Paris with good water, see
Chaptal, "Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon," p. 358. — J. H. R.
76 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
by means of pumps to the summit of the hill.
I believe he afterward abandoned his sea-water
plan, which would have been attended with great
expense. He had plans also for a palace and
a country-house, and a house for Princess
Pauline, stables, a lazaretto, and a quaran-
tine ground. About the latter he asked my
opinion.
May 7. — Napoleon was employed visiting the
town and fortifications. After breakfast he again
embarked in the barge, and visited the different
storehouses round the harbour. In making ex-
cursions into the country he was accompanied
by a dozen officers and the captain of the gen-
darmerie ; and one of the fourriers de palais
always went before, and sometimes a party of
gendarmes a pied.
After taking our places in the barge, some of
the party keeping their hats off, he desired them
to put them on, remarking, " We are together
here as soldiers." J The fishing for the tunny is
carried on here by one of the richest inhabitants,
who from poverty has amassed a large fortune ;
he employs a great number of the poor, and has
considerable influence. The removal of his stores
to a very inferior building, to make way for a
1 "Nous sommes ici ensemble en soldats."
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 77
stable for the Emperor's horses, is likely to
give great offence. 1
May 8. — The Curagoa, Captain Towers, arrived
here with Mr. Locker, secretary to Sir Edward
Pellew, commander-in-chief. He requested an
audience to present to the Emperor a copy of the
treaty of peace. Napoleon received Mr. Locker
very graciously, and seemed to read the treaty
with deep interest ; Baron Koller, Comte
Bertrand, Drouot, General Dalheme, Colonel
Campbell, Captain Towers, and I were present.
Having read and folded it, he returned it to Mr.
Locker, expressing his obligations to the com-
mander-in-chief.
May 9. — Baron Koller, having demanded an
audience, took leave of the Emperor, and em-
barked in the Curagoa for Genoa. This day
I accompanied Napoleon to Longone, where
we lunched amid repeated cries of Vive
V Empereur ! "
Longone is a place of considerable strength ;
the works are regular, the bay is small, but there
is a safe anchorage within. Many old people
presented petitions, the girls brought flowers,
which he accepted with much condescension,
1 For this and other causes of offence, see Neil Campbell's
"Journal," p. 279.— J. H. R.
78 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
talking to all, but particularly to those that were
pretty. A young lad fell on his knees before
him, either to ask charity or merely as a mark
of respect ; he turned to Colonel Campbell and
said, " Ah ! I know the Italians well ; it is the
education of the monks. One does not see that
among the northern people." ' On proceeding
a little farther we met two well-dressed young
women, who saluted him with compliments. One
of them, the youngest, told him with great ease
and gaiety that she had been invited to the ball
at Longone two days before, but as the Emperor
did not attend it, as was expected, she had re-
mained at home.
Instead of returning by the same road, he
turned off by goat-paths, to examine the coast,
humming Italian airs, which he does very often,
and seemed quite in spirits. He expressed his
fondness for music, and remarked that this re-
minded him of passing Mont St. Bernard, and of
a conversation he had had with a young peasant
upon that occasion. The man, he said, not
knowing what he was, spoke freely of the happi-
ness of those who possessed a good house
and a number of cattle, &c. He made him
1 " Ah ! je connais bien les Italiens ; c'est education des
moines. On ne voit pas cela parmi le peuple du nord."
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 79
enumerate his greatest wants and desires, and
afterward sent for him and gave him all that he
had described ; " That cost me 60,000 francs." '
May 10. — Napoleon rode to the top of the
highest hill above Porto Ferrajo, whence we
could perceive the sea from four different points,
and apparently not an English mile in a straight
line in any direction from the spot where we
stood. After surveying it for some time, he
turned round and laughed, " Eh, my isle is very
small." 2 On the top of this hill is a small
chapel, and a house where a hermit had resided
until his death. Some one remarked that it
would require more than common devotion to
induce persons to attend service there. " Yes,
yes ; the priest can say as much nonsense as
he wishes." 3
On the evening of the ninth, after his return
from Longone, he entered upon the subject of
the armies and their operations at the close of
the last campaign, and continued it for half an
hour, until he rose from table. After passing
1 " Cela m'a coute 60,000 francs.''
2 " Eh, mon He est bien petite."
3 " Oui, oui ; le prStre peut dire autant des betises qu'il
veut." This might be cited as proof of Napoleon's complete
indifference to Roman Catholicism save as a political force. —
J. H. R.
80 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
into the presence-chamber, the conversation
again turned on the campaign, his own policy,
the Bourbons, &c, and he continued talking with
great animation till midnight, remaining on his
legs for three hours. He described the opera-
tions against the allies as always in his favour
while the numbers were in any sort of proportion ;
that in one affair against the Prussians, who were
infinitely the best, he had only 700 infantry en
tiralleurs, with 2,000 cavalry and three battalions
of his guards in reserve, against double their
number. The instant these old soldiers showed
themselves, the affair was decided.
He praised General Bliicher : " The old devil
has always attacked me with the same vigour ;
if he was beaten, an instant afterward he was
ready again for the combat." * He then de-
scribed his last march from Arcis to Brienne ;
said that he knew Schwarzenberg would not
stand to fight him, and that he hoped to destroy
half his army. Upon his retreat, he had already
taken an immense quantity of baggage and
guns. 2 When it was reported to him that the
1 "Le vieux diable m'a toujours attaque avec la mSme
vigueur ; s'il etait battu, un instant apres il se rencontrait pret
pour le combat.''
2 Napoleon's sudden march eastwards towards Chatillon-
sur-Seine on March 20-24, 1814, was with the aim of cutting
NAPOLEONS DEPORTATION TO ELBA 81
enemy had crossed the Aube to Vitry, he was
induced to halt ; he would not, however, credit
it till General Gerard assured him that he saw
20,000 infantry. He was overjoyed at this
assurance, and immediately returned to St.
Dizier, where he attacked Wintzingerode's
cavalry, which he considered the advance-guard
of Schwarzenberg's army ; drove them before
him a whole day, like sheep, at full gallop, took
1,500 or 2,000 prisoners, and some light pieces
of artillery, but, to his surprise, did not see any
army, and again halted. His best information
led him to believe that they had returned to
Troyes. Accordingly he marched in that
direction, and then ascertained, after a loss of
three days, that the armies of Schwarzenberg
and Bllicher had marched upon Paris. 1 He then
ordered forced marches, and went forward him-
self (with his suite and carriages) on horseback
night and day. Never were he and his friends
more gay and confident. He knew, he said, all
the workmen of Paris would fight for him. What
the communications of the allies and detaching the Austrians
from the coalition. See proofs in my " Napoleonic Studies,"
pp. 264-270. — -J. H. R.
1 Much of this is incorrect. Schwarzenberg did not march
towards Paris with Bliicher. It was the armies of Blucher
and Biilow that occupied the capital. — J. H. R.
6
82 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
could the allies do with such a force? The
national guards had only to barricade the streets
with casks, and it would be impossible for the
enemy to advance before he arrived to their
assistance. At 8 a.m., a few leagues from Paris,
he met a column of stragglers, who stared at
him, and he at them. " What does this mean ? " J
he demanded. They stopped and seemed
stupefied : " What ! it is the Emperor ! " 2 They
informed him that they had retreated through
Paris ; he was still confident of success. His
army burned with desire to attack the enemy
and to drive them out of the capital. He knew
very well what Schwarzenberg would risk, and
the composition of the allied army compared
with his own ; that Schwarzenberg never would
hazard a general battle with Paris in his rear,
but would take a defensive position on the other
side. He himself would have engaged the
enemy at various points for two or three hours,
then have marched with his 30 battalions of
guards and 80 pieces of cannon, himself at the
head, upon one part of their force. Nothing
could have withstood that ; and although his
inferiority of numbers would not have enabled
1 " Qu'est-ce que c'est que cela ? "
2 " Quoi ! c'est l'Empereur ! "
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 83
him to hope for a complete victory, yet he should
have succeeded in killing a great number of the
enemy and in forcing them to abandon Paris and
its neighbourhood. What he would afterward
have done must have depended on various cir-
cumstances. Who could have supposed that the
senate would have dishonoured themselves by
assembling under the force of 20,000 foreign
bayonets (a timidity unexampled in history), and
that a man who owed everything to him — who
had been his aide-de-camp, and attached to him
for twenty years — would have betrayed him ! 1
Still, it was only a fraction which ruled Paris
under the influence of the enemy's force ; the
rest of the nation was for him. The army would,
almost to a man, have continued to fight for him,
but with so great an inferiority in point of num-
bers that it would have been certain destruction
to many of his friends and a war for years. He
preferred, therefore, to sacrifice his own rights.
1 This was Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, who marched his
division, some 12,000 strong, into the allied lines near
Essonne. The French troops afterwards coined the verb
raguser — i.e., " to betray." The Duke of Wellington thought
that, previous to Marmont's defection, Napoleon's chances
of winning a victory over the allies near Paris were by no
means desperate. See Stanhope's "Conversations with the
Duke of Wellington," p. 8.— J. H. R.
84 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
It was not for the sake of a crown that he had
continued the war ; it was for the glory of
France, and not for the sake of plans which he
saw no prospect of realising. He had wished
to make France the first nation in the world ;
now it was at an end. " I have abdicated ; at
present I am a dead man ! " J He repeated the
latter phrase several times. In remarking on his
confidence in his own troops and the Old Guard,
and on the want of union among the allies, he
referred to Colonel Campbell to say candidly
if it were not so. Colonel Campbell told him
it was ; that he had never seen any considerable
portion of the French army, but every one spoke
of the Emperor and his Old Guard as if there
was something more than human about them.
Napoleon said that the inferiority which he
conceived of Schwarzenberg's army was justly
founded — it had no confidence in itself or in its
allies ; each party thought he did too much, and
his allies too little, and that they were half-
beaten before they closed with the French. He
sneered at Marmont's anxiety for his life : "Was
there ever anything so artless as that capitula-
tion ? " 2 Marmont wished to protect his person,
1 "J'ai abdique; a present je suis un homme mort!"
2 " Fut-il jamais rien si naif que cette capitulation ? "
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 85
but deserted, leaving him and the whole of his
comrades open to the surprise of the enemy ; for
it was his corps which covered the whole front.
The night previous Marmont said to him, " I
answer for my corps d'armee." l So he might.
The officers and soldiers were enraged when
they found what had been done — 8,000 infantry,
3,000 cavalry, and 60 pieces of cannon. " Voila
rhistoire!" He animadverted on Marmont's
conduct before Paris, saying, " Who ever heard
of such a thing — two hundred pieces of artillery
in the Champs de Mars and only sixty on the
heights of Montmartre ! " General Dalheme
asked if he had not fought with vigour. 2
This was nearly all that passed at that time.
After accompanying him into another room, he
resumed the conversation, enlarging upon the
general state of his army and the policy of
France. He seemed to repent his abdication,
1 " Pour mon corps d'armee j'en reponds."
2 It has generally been recognised that Marmont and
Mortier made a creditable defence of Paris on the side of
Montmartre. The city was largely disaffected, and there were
no regular fortifications. As to the disposition of the cannon,
Napoleon had been misinformed. For the dispositions of the
French on March 30, 1814, see Houssaye, " 1814,'' pp. 484-6.
There were certainly 80 cannon on Montmartre. The
defenders numbered 42,000 men, while the allies had in
all about 111,000. — J. H. R.
86 NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
and said that had he known that it was owing
only to the treachery of Augereau that his army
fell back behind Lyons, he would have united his
own to it even after Marmont's capitulation. 1
He animadverted strongly upon the conduct of
Augereau, yet he met him with all the kindness
of a friend. The first idea of his defection struck
him after separating from him on the road
between Valence and Lyons. The spirit of the
troops was such that he durst not remain among
them, for on his arrival many old soldiers and
officers came up to him weeping, and said they
had been betrayed by Augereau, and requested
Napoleon to put himself at their head. He had
an army of 30,000 fine men, many of them from
the army of Spain, which ought to have kept its
ground against the Austrians. He again spoke
of Marmont's defection, saying that it was re-
ported to him in the morning, but that he did
not believe it ; that he rode out and met Berthier,
who confirmed it from an undoubted source. He
referred to the armistice between Lord Castle-
reagh and Talleyrand, saying that he thought
1 Whether Augereau was guilty of treachery or only of
extreme slackness at and near Lyons is not fully proven.
The marshal was aged, and had never been himself since his
severe wound at Eylau (1807). — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON" S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 87
the allies were pursuing a bad policy with regard
to France by reducing her so much, for it
would wound the pride of every man there. 1
They might have left her much more power
without any risk of seeing her again on an
equality with several other powers.
France had no longer any fleet or colonies ;
a peace would not restore ships or San Domingo.
Poland no longer existed, nor Venice ; these
went to aggrandise Russia and Austria. Spain,
which is the natural enemy of Great Britain,
more so than of France, was incapable of doing
anything as an ally. If to these sacrifices were
added that of a disadvantageous treaty of com-
merce with Great Britain, the people of France
would not remain tranquil under it, " not even
six months after the foreign powers have quitted
Paris." 2 He then remarked that a month had
already elapsed, and the King of France had
not yet come over to the people who had placed
him on the throne. He said England now would
do as she pleased ; the other powers were nothing
1 The return of France to the " ancient limits," those of
1 791, was decided, not by the Treaty of Fontainebleau (April
11, 1814), but by the Treaty of Paris (May 30, 1814). —
J. H. R.
2 " Pas meme six mois apres que les puissances e"trangeres
quitterent Paris."
88 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
in comparison. "For twenty years at least no
power can make war against England, and she
will do as she wishes." 1 Holland would be
entirely subservient to her. The armistice gave
no information as to the ships at Antwerp or in
the Texel. " The brave Verhuel continues to
defend himself." 2 (This admiral commanded
the ships at Antwerp.) He then enumerated
the ships he had in each of the ports, saying
that in three or four years he would have had
three hundred sail of the line — ''What a diffe-
rence for France ! " 3 with many other remarks in
the same strain.
Colonel Campbell remarked, " But we do not
know why your Majesty wishes to annihilate
us." He laughed and replied, " If I had been
minister of England, I would have tried to
make her the greatest power in the world." 4
Napoleon frequently spoke of the invasion of
1 " Pour vingt annees au moins aucune puissance ne peut
faire guerre contre l'Angleterre, et elle fera ce qu'elle veut."
2 " Le brave Verhuel se defend toujours."
3 " Quelle difference pour la France."
♦ "Si j'avais ete ministre d'Angleterre, j'aurais tache d'en
faire la plus grande puissance du monde." It is said that in
1794 Napoleon was on the point of offering his services to
the British East India Company; but there seems to be no
documentary proof of this. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 89
England; that he never intended to attempt it
without a superiority of fleet to protect the
flotilla. This superiority would have been at-
tained for a few days by leading ours out to
the West Indies, and suddenly returning. If
the French fleet arrived in the Channel three
or four days before ours, it would be sufficient.
The flotilla would immediately push out, accom-
panied by the fleet, and the landing might take
place on any part of the coast, as he would march
direct to London. He preferred the coast of
Kent, but that must have depended on wind
and weather ; he would have placed himself at
the disposal of naval officers and pilots, to land
the troops wherever they thought they could do
so with the greatest security and in the least
time. He had 1,000,000 men, and each of the
flotilla had boats to land them ; artillery and
cavalry would soon have followed, and the whole
could have reached London in three days. He
armed the flotilla merely to lead us to suppose
that he intended it to fight its way across the
Channel; it was only to deceive us. 1 It was
1 See Introduction, pp. 15, 16. Of course the " 1,000,000
men " refer to the total forces of the French Empire. The
" Army of England " encamped at and near Boulogne numbered
about 120,000 men. It is quite certain that at first, in 1803,
9° NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
observed that we expected to be treated with
great severity in case of his succeeding, and he
was asked what he would have done had he
arrived in London. He said it was a difficult
question to answer; for a people with spirit
and energy, like the English, was not to be
subdued even by taking the capital. He would
certainly have separated Ireland from Great
Britain, and the occupying of the capital would
have been a death-blow to our funds, credit,
and commerce. He asked me to say frankly
whether we were not alarmed at his preparation
for invading England.
He entered into a long conversation with
Comte Drouot, who was with Admiral Ville-
neuve in the action with Sir Robert Calder, and
said that Villeneuve was not wanting either in
zeal or talents, but was impressed with a great
idea of the British navy. After the action, he
was entreated by all the officers to pursue the
British squadron and to renew the action.
Napoleon said that about the end of the cam-
paign of 1804, before England had seized the
he believed that the flotilla of armed vessels and small boats
could fight its way across. But the advice of his admirals
finally convinced him that the convoy of a fleet was necessary.
Hence the elaborate naval schemes of 1 804-1 805. — J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 91
Spanish galleons, and before he had obtained
from Spain an entire and frank co-operation,
having then no auxiliary but the Dutch, he
wished to run the Toulon fleet through the
Straits, unite it to six sail of the line at
Rochefort, and to the Brest fleet, which con-
sisted of twenty-three sail of the line, and with
this combined force to appear before Boulogne,
there to be joined by the Dutch fleet, thus
securing the passage and landing of his troops.
He said he was diverted from his intentions by
the Austrians. 1
At the death of Admiral de la Touche-
Treville, one of his ablest admirals, Villeneuve
was appointed commander-in-chief at Toulon,
and hoisted his flag on the Bucentaure. 2 His
squadron consisted of four 80-gun ships, eight
74-gun ships, six frigates, and 7,000 troops.
On March 30, 1805, Admiral Villeneuve sailed
from Toulon, and on April 7 was before Car-
thagena, waiting a reinforcement of six Spanish
1 The action between Calder and Villeneuve took place off
Cape Finisterre on July 22, 1805. Not till August 22-29 did
Austria's preparations cause him seriously to consider the
abandonment of his projects of invasion of England. This is
made quite clear by his letter written on those days. — J. H. R.
2 La Touche-Treville died at Toulon on August 20, 1804. —
J. H. R.
93 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
sail of the line. These ships not being ready,
he pursued his course about the middle of April,
appeared before Gibraltar, and chased Sir John
Orde, who, with five sail of the line, was before
Cadiz.
Admiral Villeneuve was joined by a seventy-
four and two corvettes, and by Admiral Gra-
vina with six sail of the line and 2,000 troops,
making eighteen sail of the line in all. May 9,
Villeneuve opened his sealed orders, and gave
Admiral Gravina his instructions, which were
to separate with his squadron, reinforce the
garrison of Porto Rico and Havana, and re-
join him at a prescribed rendezvous. Ville-
neuve anchored at Martinique on May 14, and
heard that Admiral Missiessy had just left the
West Indies. Missiessy sailed from Rochefort
June 11, his squadron consisting of six sail of
the line, three frigates, and 3,000 troops, his
flag-ship being the Majestuetix. 1
Napoleon said he was visiting the fortresses
on the Rhine when he wrote the orders for
1 This account is correct in nearly all particulars, but
Missiessy sailed from Rochefort on January n, 1805, not
June ri. For Napoleon's powers of memory, see Lord
Holland, " Foreign Reminiscences," pp. 272-3, and Chaptal,
" Souvenirs," pp. 334-6.— J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 93
these expeditions — the first to reinforce Mar-
tinique and Guadaloupe, and to take Dominica
and St. Lucia ; the second to take Surinam
and its dependencies, and to strengthen San
Domingo; the third to St. Helena. 1 It was
before he quitted Milan to visit the depart-
ments of the East that he learned of the
return of the Rochefort squadron. He blamed
the precipitation with which Dominica had been
abandoned. 2 He saw in this fortunate cruise
the advantage he had gained ; he felicitated
himself in having concealed the secret of the
destination of Villeneuve ; still, he was uneasy
about Nelson. In his despatch written at the
moment of his departure from Milan he said :
" It is uncertain what Nelson intends doing.
It is very possible that the English, having
sent a strong squadron to the East Indies,
1 Napoleon's orders for these expeditions were written on
September 29, 1804, at Mainz (Mayence). See Napoleon
" Correspondance," vol. ix., No. 8060. Surinam, in Dutch
Guiana, fell to a British force in May, 1804. See James,
"Naval History," vol. iii. p. 297. — J. H. R.
2 General Lagrange, with the troops on board Missiessy's
squadron, took part of the island of Dominica, but, failing
to reduce Prince Rupert Fort, sailed away (February, 1805).
See James, "Naval History," vol. iv. p. 79, and Napoleon,
"Correspondance," No. 8846, vol. x. (June 6, 1805). —
J. H. R.
94 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
have ordered Nelson to America. I am, how-
ever, of the opinion that he is still in Europe ;
the most natural supposition is that he has re-
turned to England to refit, and to turn his men
over to other vessels, as some of his ships need
docking." 1 He impressed on the mind of the
Minister of Marine the importance he attached
to Villeneuve's having the means of victualling
the fleet at Ferrol. He said, with respect to
the Rochefort squadron, that the English would
no doubt send a squadron after them. "One
must not calculate upon what it is the duty of the
admiralty to do, with 100,000 men at Boulogne,
seven sail of the line in the Texel, with an army
of 30,000 men and a fleet of twenty-two sail of
the line at Brest. It may happen that Ville-
neuve will return suddenly ; but he might also
direct his course to India or to Jamaica. What
responsibility, then, weighs on the heads of the
ministry if they allow months to pass without
sending a force to protect the colonies! It is
scarcely probable that England can at any time
assemble sixty-five sail of the line. Word must
be sent to Villeneuve the moment he arrives
1 These sentences occur in Napoleon's letter from Milan
(June 9, 1805) to Vice- Admiral Decres, " Correspondance,"
vol. x., No. 8871.— J. H. R.
NAPOLEON 1 S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 95
at Ferrol, as nothing gives greater courage
and clears the ideas so well as knowing the
position of the enemy.
"It is true that the English have 111 sail
of the line, of which three are guard-ships,
and sixteen prison-ships and hospitals. There
remain, then, ninety-two, out of which twenty
are undergoing repairs (that is, not ready for
sea) ; there remain seventy-two, the disposition
of which is, probably, eight or ten in India, three
or four at Jamaica, three or four at Barbadoes,
making fourteen or eighteen, leaving fifty-four
or fifty-eight with which it is necessary to block-
ade Cadiz, Ferrol, and Brest, and to follow
Villeneuve and Missiessy. The following is the
state of our force : Twenty-two at Brest, fifteen
at Cadiz, twelve at Ferrol, twenty with Ville-
neuve, one at Lorient, five with Missiessy —
total seventy-five. The fifteen at Cadiz occupy
only five English ; deduct ten from seventy-five,
there remain sixty-five which could be united.
It is scarcely possible that the English at any
time can assemble sixty-five."
Villeneuve, having sailed to the West Indies,
was pursued by Nelson. He left the anchorage
at Martinique on May 21, captured a convoy
off Barbadoes, and another off the Azores, fell
96 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
in with and captured a privateer, with a rich
prize, a galleon. He was afterward reinforced
by Admiral Magon de Clos-Dord, with two sail
of the line, and received from him instructions
to proceed to Ferrol, where he could be rein-
forced by five sail of the line under the command
of Rear-Admiral Gourdon, and six sail of the
line (Spaniards, under the command of Gran-
delina), and a third squadron under the command
of Rear-Admiral Lallemand, consisting of five
sail of the line (formerly under the command
of Missiessy). It was with this fleet of about
forty sail of the line that Villeneuve, driving
away Admiral Cornwallis from Brest, would
necessarily open the passage for Admiral Gan-
theaume, who had twenty-two sail of the line,
and form at the entrance to the Channel sixty-
two sail of the line, six 3-deckers, nine 80-gun
ships, and forty-seven seventy-fours, for the
purpose of covering the 2,283 transports of
which the flotilla consisted. Such was Napoleon's
plan, the execution of which was defeated by
Villeneuve, who after the action with Sir Robert
Calder, went into Vigo, landed his wounded,
and, leaving three sail of the line there, ran
into Corunna, where he was reinforced by six
sail of the line (French), and ten sail of the
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 97
line (Spanish), making thirty-one sail of the
line. 1
Napoleon was at Boulogne at that time, and
learned from England the situations of the
different squadrons. He ordered Gantheaume
to anchor at Brest, and to be ready to join
Villeneuve with the twenty-two sail of the line,
three of them 3-deckers. August 21 Gan-
theaume anchored in the bay. August 10, the
wind being easterly, Villeneuve, having been
reinforced by the French and Spanish squadrons
under Gourdon, Gravina, and Grandelina, an-
chored in the bay of Anas, near Ferrol, and
put to sea. The 13th, nothing being then in
sight, he first steered north-west, suddenly
changed his course to the south, out of sight
of land, cruised four days off St. Vincent, and
entered Cadiz the 21st, the very day that he
was expected at Brest. Lord Collingwood was
before Cadiz with four sail of the line ; was
surprised and narrowly escaped.
While this was going on, Admiral Lallemand,
1 For this battle of July 22, 1805, off Cape Finisterre, and
Villeneuve's subsequent proceedings, see James, "Naval
History," vol. iii. pp. 356-375; and Mahan, "Influence of
Sea Power on the French Revolution and Empire,'' vol. ii.
pp. 169-174. In the account given above Vigo is wrongly
substituted for Ferrol.— J. H. R.
7
98 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
with four sail of the line, was cruising in the Bay
of Biscay. His orders were to cruise for a certain
period, then to wait in a particular latitude for
orders, and, if none reached him, to proceed to
Vigo, the 13th, in order to reinforce Villeneuve.
He executed his orders punctually, and anchored
on the 1 6th, two days after Villeneuve had sailed,
who, although he expected this reinforcement,
had left no orders for Lallemand, compromising
by this extraordinary conduct the safety of the
squadron. Lallemand, finding no orders, put to
sea again, and cruised till December 24. He
took a 50-gun ship, a sloop of war, and
anchored at Rochefort the 24th of December.
Napoleon was at Boulogne when he learned
from England the certainty of Villeneuve 's
arrival at Cadiz. He was furious, saying, "It
is treason."
Villeneuve, before leaving Ferrol, said that he
was going to Brest, and even wrote to Lallemand,
who was to meet him at Vigo. Notwithstanding
that he expected this squadron at Vigo, he passed
the harbour without sending in. Napoleon
ordered the Minister of Marine to make a report
of these proceedings. 1
1 Villeneuve's reason for sailing to Cadiz was that the wind
was north-east, and that he heard that a superior British
NAPOLEONS DEPORTATION TO ELBA 99
May 26. — Napoleon had been so long expect-
ing his troops, baggage, horses, &c, that he
began at length to show signs of impatience, and
to suspect the good faith of the French Govern-
ment ; but when I informed him that our transports
were engaged, and might shortly be expected at
Elba, he seemed satisfied, complimented us on
our generosity, and added that had he known
that our ships were to bring his troops, he should
not have had a moment's uneasiness. I dined
with Napoleon the following day. While at table
a servant announced one of my officers, who
wished to see me. It was an officer whom I had
stationed at a signal fort that I had established
on a commanding height. He reported seven
sail in the north-west quarter, standing toward the
island. I had no doubt from the number of
force was in front of him. His prudence has been generally
censured. See Mahan, op. at. vol. ii. p. 180.
It must be admitted that the length of this conversation is
suspicious. No date is assigned to it, and it seems to be a
risume of several talks. On May 1 7 Captain Ussher, with his
ship the Undaunted, sailed from Elba to Frejus in order to
bring back Princess Pauline Borghese (n(e Bonaparte). See the
"Journal" of Sir Neil Campbell, pp. 232, 236. It is strange
that Ussher does not mention this circumstance. Perhaps
the conversation was written down on that cruise. The
Princess was brought from Villa Franca by a Neapolitan
frigate.— J. H. R.
too NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
vessels, and the course that they were taking,
that they were the long-expected transports.
Napoleon almost immediately rose from the
table, and I accompanied him to his garden,
which with his house occupies the highest part
of the works, and has a commanding view of the
sea toward Italy and the coast of France. Full
of anxiety, he stopped at the end of every turn,
and looked eagerly for the vessels. We walked
till it was quite dark ; he was very communica-
tive, and his conversation highly interesting. It
was now near midnight. I told him that' with a
good night-glass I should be able to see them ;
for with the breeze they had they could not be
very far from the island. He brought me a very
fine night-glass, made by Donaldson, which
enabled me to see the vessels distinctly. They
were lying to. He was much pleased, and in the
highest spirits wished me good-night.
At four in the morning he was out again giving
orders. I was awakened by the beating of drums
and cries of " Vive HEmpereur!" He ordered
the harbour-master and pilots out to the trans-
ports, made arrangements for the comfort of his
troops, and provided stables for one hundred
horses. At about seven o'clock the troops
were landed, and paraded before Napoleon,
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 101
who addressed every officer and private. They
appeared delighted at seeing their Emperor again.
Among the officers were several Poles, remark-
ably fine young men. At eight o'clock I ordered
half the crew of the Undaunted to be sent on
board the transports, and by four o'clock the
whole of the baggage, carriages, horses, &c, was
landed, and the transports were ready for sea.
During the entire operation Napoleon remained
on the quay under an excessively hot sun.
When I informed him that everything was
landed, and that the transports were ready for
sea, he expressed surprise, and said, pointing to
some Italian sailors, "Those fellows would have
been eight days doing what your men have done
in so many hours ; besides, they would have
broken my horses' legs, not one of which has
received a scratch." General Cambronne, who
came in command of the troops, remained in
conversation with Napoleon the whole time. ' At
four the Emperor mounted his horse and rode
into the country, and returned to dinner at seven.
At half-past seven he rose from the table, and I
1 Cambronne afterwards at Waterloo commanded a brigade
of the Imperial Guard. He was credited (but it seems on
insufficient grounds) with uttering the noble phrase " The
Guard dies but does not surrender." — J. H. R.
102 NAPOLEON'S LAS! VOYAGES
accompanied him to his garden, where we walked
till half-past eleven. It was during this conver-
sation that I told him it was generally thought
in England that he intended to rebuild Jerusalem,
and that which gave rise to the supposition was
his convoking of the Sanhedrim of the Jews at
Paris. 1 He laughed, and said the Sanhedrim was
convoked for other purposes ; it collected Jews
who came from all parts of Europe, but par-
ticularly from Poland, and from them he obtained
information of the state of Poland. He added
that they gave him much useful information, that
they were well informed as to the real state of
the country on every point, and possessed all the
information he wanted, and which he was able to
turn to account, and found to be perfectly correct.
Great numbers came to Paris on that occasion,
among them several Jews from England.
In talking of his marshals, he seemed to regret
that he had not allowed some of them to retire.
He said they wanted retirement. He ought to
have promoted a batch of young men, who would
1 Napoleon organised the Jewish community because he
desired to make use of their financial power. A curious story
is told respecting the convocation of the Sanhedrim by Chaptal,
"Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon,'' p. 243, showing Napoleon's
fatalism.— J. H. R.
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 103
have been attached to him, like Massena. He
considered Gouvion St. Cyr one of his best
soldiers. 1 He said Ney was a man who lived on
fire, that he would go into the cannon's mouth
for him if he were ordered ; but he was not a
man of talent or education. 2 Marmont was a good
soldier, but a weak man. Soult was a talented
and good soldier. Bernadotte, he said, had
behaved ill on one occasion, and should have
been tried by a court martial ; 3 he did not interfere
or influence in any way his election by the
Swedes. He had a high opinion of Junot, who
stood at his side while he was writing a de-
spatch on a drum-head, on the field of battle,
during which time a shot passed, tearing up
the earth about them.4 Junot remarked that it
1 For Gouvion St. Cyr's abilities but incurable nonchalance,
see Marbot's " Memoirs," ch. lxvi. — J. H. R.
3 Ney had not distinguished himself in the campaigns of
1813-14. He was badly beaten by Biilow at Dennewitz,
September 6, 1813.— J. H. R.
3 This refers to Bernadotte's supposed slackness on the day
of Jena (October 14, 1806); he has been in part excul-
pated by Foucart, " La Campagne de 1806," pp. 604-606 and
694-697.— J. H. R.
4 This incident occurred in one of the forts in front of
Toulon in the autumn of 1793. It is said to have laid the
foundation of the long friendship of Napoleon for Junot. —
J. H. R.
io4 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
was very apropos, as he needed sand to dry
his ink.
The following morning I requested an inter-
view before taking leave, on my sailing from
Elba to join the commander-in-chief at Genoa.
He was alone at the time. He seemed affected,
and requested me to prolong my stay at Elba,
and asked me if the wind was fair for Genoa.
He said, " You are the first Englishman I have
been acquainted with," and spoke in a flattering
manner of England. He said he felt under great
obligations to Sir Edward Pellew, and requested
that I would assure him of his gratitude for the
attention shown him ; that he hoped, when the
war with America was terminated, I would pay
him a visit. I told him I had that morning
breakfasted with the Comte de Montcabri on
board the frigate Dryade ; that he informed me
that the Prince of Essling had had a dispute with
Sir Edward Pellew, and that the French Govern-
ment had, in consequence, some intention of
removing him from the command at Toulon. He
remarked that he was one of his best marshals,
a man of superior talent ; but that his health was
bad in consequence of bursting a blood-vessel.
I said it was understood that he was so much
displeased with the conduct of the Prince of
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 105
Essling in the Peninsula that he had ordered
him to Bareges. He replied that I was greatly-
mistaken, that, at the time referred to, the
Prince's health was very delicate, and his
physicians recommended him to go to Nice,
the place of his birth, and that after his recovery
he was given the command of Toulon, which
was just then vacant. 1 I requested the Emperor
to allow me to present Lieutenant Bailey, the
agent of transports, who had been appointed to
embark his guards, &c, at Savona. He thanked
Lieutenant Bailey for the attention paid to his
troops, and for the care which had been taken
of his horses, and remarked how extraordinary
it was that no accident had happened to them
(there were ninety-three) either in the embarka-
tion or disembarkation, and complimented him
highly on his skill and attention, adding that
our sailors exceeded even the opinion he had
long since formed of them.
During this conversation Napoleon gave a
remarkable proof of his retentive memory, and
of his information on subjects connected with
1 The Prince of Essling was Marshal Massena. This
apology for him by Napoleon is very strained. It is well
known that he was disgraced for his failure in Portugal in the
campaign of Torres Vedras. — J. H. R.
io6 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
naval matters. Lieutenant Bailey informed him
that, after the guards had embarked, a violent
gale of wind arose, with a heavy sea, which at
one time threatened the destruction of the
transports, and that he considered Savona a
dangerous anchorage. Napoleon remarked that
if he had gone to a small bay (I think it was
Vado) near Savona, he might have lain there
in perfect safety. 1 He requested me to inform
the commander-in-chief how much he was
satisfied with Lieutenant Bailey's kind and skilful
conduct. He then thanked me for my attention
to himself, and embracing me a la Fran$aise,
said, " Adieu, Captain ! rely on me. Adieu ! " 2
He seemed much affected.
In closing this, I may say that I have en-
deavoured throughout to execute faithfully and
zealously the somewhat difficult mission with
which I have been charged, but at the same
time with that deference and respect for the
feelings of Napoleon which have appeared to
me no less due to his misfortunes than to his
exalted station and splendid talents.
1 Bonaparte in the campaigns of 1794, 1796, frequently
made use of the bay of Vado. — J. H. R.
* " Adieu, Capitaine, comptez sur moi. Adieu ! "
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 107
LIST OF PERSONS ACCOMPANYING THE EM-
PEROR NAPOLEON TO THE ISLAND OF ELBA.
General Roller ... .,
Comte Clam
Colonel Campbell
Comte Bertrand ...
Comte Drouot ... ..
Baron Germanowki .
Chevalier Foureau
Chevalier Baillon
Chevalier Deschamps.
Chevalier Perusse
M. Gatte
M. Callin
M. Rothery
M. Gueval
M. Pelard
M. Hubert
M. Sotain
M. Purron
M. Rousset
M. Lafosse
M. Gaillard
M. Archambault... .
M. Poillett
M. Berthault ... .
M. Villenaine ... .
Dennis
Gandron
Mathiers
Rousseau
Armaudrau
Noverve
I Austrian Envoys.
English Envoy.
Grand Marshal of the Palace.
General of Division and A.D.C.
to the Emperor.
Major of the L. H. Guards.
First Physician to the Emperor
I Grooms of the Bedchamber.
Treasurer.
Apothecary.
Comptroller to the Household
• Secretary to the Grand Marshal.
Clerk to the Comptroller.
Valets de Chambre.
Master of the Ceremonies.
Officer of the Ceremonies.
Chief Cook.
Chief Baker.
. Valets.
Keeper of the wardrobe.
Domestics.
Rider.
Body-servant.
io8 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Besson )
Renaud ^ Grooms of the State.
Chauvin )
Sentini } Couriers.
Note. — When Colonel Campbell arrived at
Marseilles on April 25, he informed me that,
having been appointed by Lord Castlereagh to
accompany Napoleon to Elba, he arrived at
Fontainebleau on the 16th, at nine o'clock in
the morning. He met there Comte Bertrand,
who expressed the Emperor's anxiety to proceed
to his destination, and his wish to change the
place of embarkation from St. Tropez to
Piombino, as there could be no certainty of
his being received by the commandant of
Elba, and by going to Piombino that would be
previously ascertained. If refused, he might
be driven off the island by tempest while waiting
permission to land. He expressed the hope that
Colonel Campbell would remain at Elba until
his affairs were settled ; otherwise an Algerine
corsair might land and do what he pleased. He
seemed much satisfied when Colonel Campbell
told him that he had Lord Castlereagh's instruc-
tions to remain there for some time, if necessary
for the security of Napoleon. After breakfast
Comte Flahaut informed the commissioners that
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 109
the Emperor would see them after he had
attended mass. The commissioners were intro-
duced in the following order : Russian guard,
Prince Schoovalof, who remained five minutes ;
Austrian general, Baron Koller, the same time ;
Comte Truxo, Colonel Campbell, quarter of an
hour. Napoleon asked Campbell about his
wounds and service, where his family resided,
and seemed very affable. Colonel Campbell
received from Paris a copy of the order from
General Dupont, 1 Minister of War, to the
commandant at Elba, to give up the island to
Napoleon, taking away the guns, stores, &c.
This displeased Napoleon exceedingly ; he had
a conversation with General Koller on the
subject, and requested him to send his aide-de-
camp with a note relating to it to Paris, wishing
to know how he was to protect himself against
any corsair, and saying that if this conduct was
continued he would go to England. A note
was presented to the commissioners by Comte
Bertrand, who added verbally that the Emperor
would not disembark unless the guns were left
for security and defence.
1 General Dupont incurred Napoleon's lasting displeasure
by surrendering at Baylen in Andalusia with some 23,000
French troops (July 19, 1808). In 18 14 he went over to the
Bourbon cause. — J. H. R.
no NAPOLEON 'S LAST VOYAGES
April 20. — The horses were ordered at 9 a.m.
The Emperor desired to see General Koller.
He spoke warmly against the separation from
his wife and child, also of the order for with-
drawing the guns from Elba, saying he had
nothing to do with the provisional Government ;
his treaty was with the allied sovereigns, and
to them he looked for every act. He was not
yet destitute of means to continue the war, but
it was not his wish to do so. General Koller
endeavoured to persuade him that the treaty
would be fulfilled with honour. He then sent
for Colonel Campbell, and began a conversation
similar to the one on the 16th, speaking of
service, wounds, &c, the system and discipline
of the British army, necessity of corporal punish-
ment, though he thought it should seldom be
applied. He was much satisfied at Lord Castle-
reagh's placing a British man-of-war at ,his dis-
posal, if he wished it, for convoy or passage, and
complimented the nation. He then said he was
ready. The Duke of Bassano, General Belliard,
Arnano, and four or five others (his aides-de-
camp), with about twenty other officers, were in
the ante-chamber. On entering the first room
there were only General Belliard and Arnano ;
an aide-de-camp suddenly shut the door, so it
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA in
is presumed he was taking a particular leave
of them ; the door then opened, and the aide-de-
camp called out, " The Emperor." He passed
with a salute and smile, descended into the
court, addressed his guards, embraced General
Petit and the colours, entered his carriage and
drove off.
April 21. — Slept at Brienne in a large hotel,
a good supper being provided. 1 The Emperor
supped with General Bertrand.
April 22. — Slept at Nevers. Cries of " Vive
FEmpereurf" In the morning he sent for
Colonel Campbell. The table was laid ; so he
desired the servant to lay another cover, and
invited the Colonel to stay and breakfast.
General Bertrand also joined them. Napoleon
asked Colonel Campbell who commanded in the
Mediterranean. He said he did not know for
certain, but believed Sir Sidney Smith was one
of the admirals. When Comte Bertrand sat
down, he said, laughing, " Que pensez-vous,
Sidney Smith amiral dans la Mediterrande ! " 2
He then related Smith's having thrown several
1 " Brienne" should be " Briare," a town on the Loire, half-
way from Fontainebleau to Nevers. Brienne is in Cham-
pagne. — J. H. R.
2 "What do you think, Sidney Smith admiral in the
Mediterranean ! "
iia NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
thousand shot from his ships on them without
killing a man (this was at Acre). It was his
great source, for he paid much for every shot
brought in by the men. " II m' envoya des
parlementaires comme un second Marlborough." I
April 23. — Before the journey this morning,
he requested Colonel Campbell to go on, in
order to expedite the British man-of-war, and
also to write to Admiral Emeriau at Toulon to
expedite the French corvette. He sent off to
Auxerre to order his heavy baggage, with the
escort of six hundred guards and horses, to go
by land to Piombino ; but if that was objected
to, to go by Lyons, and to drop down the Rhone.
Colonel Campbell proceeded on by Lyons and
Aix, when he learned that I was at anchor in
the bay of Marseilles, where he arrived the
evening of the 25th. The morning of the 20th
the commissioners communicated to Comte Ber-
trand the facilities which had been obtained in
regard to the several difficulties presented re-
specting a director of posts for the horses, and a
British man-of-war for convoy or conveyance, and
a copy of the order given by General Dupont.
1 "He sent me parlementaires like a second Marl-
borough." (" Parlementaire " means " the bearer of a flag
of truce."
NAPOLEON'S DEPORTATION TO ELBA 113
After the formation of the provisional Govern-
ment, a peison was asked by Napoleon what
he thought of his situation, and whether he
thought there were any measures to be taken.
He replied in the negative. Napoleon asked
what he would do in a similar situation ; his
questioner said he would blow out his brains.
The Emperor reflected a moment. " Oui, je
puis faire cela, mais ceux qui me veulent du bien
ne pourraient pas en profiter, et ceux qui me
veulent du mal, cela leur ferait plaisir.'' :
NOTE BY BIRGE HARRISON.
It occurred to me that as I was residing temporarily in
Frejus, it might be of interest to inquire if any eye-witnesses
of the event were still living in the neighbourhood. Such a
person I found in M. Coulis, a gentleman ninety-three years
old, but unusually intelligent and lucid in conversation. As
his account differs slightly from that given by Admiral Ussher,
it may be worth while to put it on record.
A slight temporary jetty had been erected at the beach for
the occasion, and among those gathered near it were he and
his father. It was about half-past seven of a bright moonlight
1 " Yes, I can do that, but those who wish me well could
not profit by it, and those who wish me harm would be
pleased."
If this is correct, it helps to discredit the story told by
Napoleon's valet, Constant, that his master tried to poison
himself at Fontainebleau on April 12 or 13. — J. H. R.
8
H4 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
evening when the imperial party arrived upon the beach — so
bright indeed that the Emperor's peculiarly vivid smile was
apparent to all as he advanced from his carriage toward the
boat which was awaiting him. Just as he put foot upon the
jetty, however, his countenance darkened somewhat, and,
turning to the prefect of the Department of the Var, who was
standing by, the Emperor remarked :
" This is still another deception. But I should have ex-
pected as much." (" Voici encore une deception. Mais
j'aurai du m'attendre a. cela.")
In reply to my query as to what had provoked this parting
shot at a former official, M. Coulis said that he supposed it
referred to his desertion by the French corvette Victorieuse,
which was to accompany him to Elba and to remain per-
manently in his service, but which had sailed out of the bay
the preceding afternoon upon learning that the Emperor was
to go to Elba in an English ship.
Admiral Ussher makes a curious topographical error when
he states that Frejus " lies on a height three or four miles from
the anchorage." In point of fact, the town is separated
from the beach by a scant three-quarters of a mile of barren
sand-dunes.
Frejus, Var, France.
., ; ' ' V-".' \
III V®.
£ tfte^ da/idmgTandkriwiL
FRENCH CARICATURE ON THE TRANSFER OF NAPOLEON FROM THE
"BELLEROPHON " TO THE "NORTHUMBERLAND."
Tofactpagenj.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA.
FROM A MANUSCRIPT DIARY OF THE TRIP,
WRITTEN BY THE ADMIRALS SECRETARY. '
Captain Ross.
Count Las Cases.
Grand Marshal
Count Bertrand.
Sir George Bingham.
Officer.
Officer.
General Gourgaud.
Madame Montholon.
Sir George Cockburn.
Bonaparte.
Countess Bertrand.
General Montholon.
Any Stranger.
Mr. Glover (Admiral's Secretary).
PLAN OF THE TABLE DURING THE VOYAGE.
(FROM MR. GLOVER'S MANUSCRIPT.)
A NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO ST. HELENA, PARTICULARLY
RELATING TO THE ACTIONS AND CONVERSATION OF
BONAPARTE, ONCE THE SCOURGE OF MANKIND, BUT NOW
THE DATENV OF THAT NATION WHOSE ATTEMPTED
DESTRUCTION HAD BEEN THE MAINSPRING OF HIS
ACTIONS FOR MANY YEARS.
July 26, 1 81 5. — Rear- Admiral Sir George
"5
u6 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Cockburn was appointed by the Government
to convey Napoleon Bonaparte to St. Helena,
which had been selected as the spot of all others
most likely to secure him against returning to
Europe. The Northumberland, Captain C. B. H.
Ross, which ship was in the Medway, was hurried
round to Portsmouth with all possible expedition.
She arrived there on the 31st, when the utmost
exertions were made to complete her for foreign
service.
August 2-5. — On this day Sir George Cock-
burn arrived at Portsmouth, and on the afternoon
of the third, notwithstanding the ship was in the
greatest possible state of confusion (from the
hurried manner in which stores of every descrip-
tion had been put on board), we sailed from
Spithead, with the Bucephalus and Ceylon, troop-
ships having on board the second battalion of
the 53rd Regiment, commanded by Colonel Sir
George Bingham. 1 A company of artillery, com-
1 The fact that " stores of every description " were put on
board shows that the ship must have had a supply of fresh
water. Some of the Frenchmen afterwards complained that all
the water on board was stale and had been to India and back.
A diary kept by Sir George Bingham, K.C.B., on board the
Northumberland, and at St. Helena has been published in
Blackwood's Magazine, October, November, 1896, as also in
Cornhill of January, February, 1901. It corroborates Glover's
" Journal " at several points. — J. H. R.
. I, // /i/'o/f/r/i Drsconte en Angli'li-iTO
CONTEMPORARY FRENCH CARICATURE ON THE END OF NAPOLEON S
INVASION OF ENGLAND SCHEMES.
To face page n~.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 117
manded by Captain Greatly, was also on board
the Northumberland. We had calm weather
with light airs occasionally, which greatly enabled
the ship being put somewhat to rights.
August 6. — About noon, when off Berry Head,
we discovered a squadron which proved to be the
Tonnant, having the flag of Lord Keith, com-
mander-in-chief of the Channel fleet ; the Bellero-
phon (having on board Napoleon Bonaparte and
his suite) ; and the Eurotas frigate. Sir George
Cockburn went on board the Tonnant when the
squadron anchored to the westward of Berry
Head. On communicating with the Tonnant,
we found that Lord Keith had sailed suddenly
with his squadron from Plymouth to prevent
any difficulty or unpleasant consequences in
removing Bonaparte to the Northumberland, it
being understood that a writ of habeas corpus,
or subpoena, had been taken out to remove him
to London, to appear as evidence at some trial,
in consequence of which it was determined that
this ex-emperor should be removed at sea. 1
1 This affair of the subpoena seems to have arisen out of
an article in the leading Opposition paper, the Morning
Chronicle, in which a Mr. Capel Lofft stated that Bonaparte,
having appealed to the laws of Great Britain, might demand
from the Lord Chancellor a writ of habeas corpus. Some
one then suggested the bringing of a libel suit in London
n8 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
During the afternoon a conference was held by
Lord Keith, Sir George Cockburn, and Mardchal
Bertrand, relative to the transhipment of the
French party ; and after dinner Lord Keith,
accompanied by Sir George Cockburn, went on
board the Bellerophon to make known to Bona-
parte that it was necessary to remove him to
the Northumberland as quickly as possible and
convenient, for the purpose of being conveyed to
St. Helena. Bonaparte protested strenuously
against this procedure, and the right of the
British Government thus to dispose of him. 1 Sir
George, however, contented himself by observing
that as a military officer he must obey his instruc-
tions, and therefore expressed a hope that he
(Bonaparte) would be ready to move the next
day with such of his followers as it was deter-
mined were to accompany him.
August 7. — After breakfast Sir George Cock-
against a naval officer, in which Napoleon was to be called
as a witness. A lawyer then started for Plymouth and gave
some trouble to Lord Keith, who, however, successfully dodged
him. See " Narrative of Captain Maitland," pp. 161-169, new
edit., London, 1904; with an excellent note on the futility of
the habeas corpus device. — J. H. R.
1 For his protest, see Allardyce's " Memoirs of Lord Keith,"
also "Napoleonic Studies," by J. H. Rose, pp. 319-32^ —
J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST HELENA 119
burn went again on board the Bellerophon to
examine the baggage of Bonaparte and his
followers, at which they were excessively in-
dignant. Nevertheless everything was inspected,
but no one of the French officers would attend.
All the arms were delivered up, and 4,000
napoleons were detained by Sir George Cock-
burn, and delivered to Captain Maitland to
be forwarded to the treasury ; after which the
luggage was transhipped, and every necessary
arrangement made. About two o'clock Bona-
parte came on board the Northumberland,\a.ccom-
panied by Lord Keith. On coming on deck
he said to Sir George Cockburn (in French),
" Here I am, General, at your orders." He then
begged to be introduced to the captain, and asked
the names of the different officers on deck, to
what regiments they belonged, and other questions
of trifling import. He then, with Sir George
Cockburn, Lord Keith, and some of his followers,
went into the after cabin, where he was left.
The following persons were allowed to follow
Bonaparte into exile, and came at the same time
with him from the Bellerophon, viz., General
Comte de Bertrand, grand marshal of the
palace ; General de Montholon ; General Gour-
gaud ; Comte Las Cases, and his son, about
i2o NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
thirteen years of age ; Comtesse de Bertrand,
with three children ; Comtesse de Montholon,
with one child ; three valets de chambre ;
three valets de pied : a mattre d'hdtel ; a chef
d'office ; a cook ; a porter ; a lamp-lighter
(lampiste) ; and a male servant of Marechal
Bertrand's. The following persons were allowed
to come on board from the Eurotas frigate to
take their final leave of Bonaparte, viz., Lieu-
tenant - Colonel Resigny. Lieutenant - Colonel
Schultz, Le Chef d'Escadre Mercher, Captain
Autrie, Captain Riviere, Captain St. Catherine,
Captain Piontkowski, and Lieutenant- Colonel
Plaisir, the major part of whom appeared affected
on quitting their quondam master, most parti-
cularly Piontkowski, who, after using every
entreaty in vain to be allowed to accompany
Bonaparte, solicited most earnestly to be allowed
to become a servant. But this was also refused,
and they all returned. 1
The admiral after this went into the after cabin
with some of the officers, and, finding Bonaparte
1 The list given on pp. 137, 138 is fuller, but it includes the
names of several who were not allowed to proceed to St.
Helena. See note p. 139. Piontkowski was afterwards allowed
to go to St. Helena (Captain Maitland, " Narrative," ad fin?). —
J. H. R.
POLEON BONAPARTE.
r/es F.astlake, taken from
decfc 9/ the " Rcilerofihon:
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 121
seemed to assume an exclusive right to this cabin,
he desired Mardchal Bertrand to explain that
the after cabin must be considered as common
to us all, and that the sleeping-cabin could alone
be considered as exclusively his. Bonaparte
received this intimation with submission and
apparent good humour, and soon after went on
deck, where he remained a considerable time,
asking various questions of each officer of trifling
import. He particularly asked Sir George
Bingham and Captain Greatly to what regi-
ments they belonged, and when told that Captain
Greatly belonged to the artillery, he replied
quickly, " I also belonged to the artillery."
After conversing on deck for some time, this
ex-emperor retired to the cabin allotted him as
a sleeping-cabin, which is about nine feet wide
and twelve feet long, with a narrow passage
leading to the quarter - gallery. The admiral
had a similar sleeping-cabin on the opposite
side. The after cabin is our general sitting-
room and the fore cabin our mess-room ; the
others of the party are accommodated below by
the captain and some of the officers giving up
their cabins, and by building others on the main
deck. Thus this man, who but a short time
since kept nations in dread, and had thousands
122 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
at his nod, has descended from the emperor to
the general with a flexibility of mind more
easily to be imagined than described. He is
henceforth to be styled general, and by directions
from our Government he is to have the same
honours and respect paid him as a British general
not in employ. 1
Our mess now consists of Rear-Admiral Sir
George Cockburn ; C. B. H. Ross, captain of
the Northumberland ; Mr. J. R. Glover, secre-
tary to Sir George Cockburn ; Sir George R.
Bingham, colonel of the 53rd Regiment (a
passenger) ; General Bonaparte ; Marshal Ber-
trand; 2 Major-Generals de Montholon and
Gourgaud ; Le Comte de Las Cases ; and
Mesdames Montholon and Bertrand. At
6 p.m. dinner was announced, when we all
sat down in apparent good spirits, and our
actions declared our appetites fully equal to
those spirits. General Bonaparte ate of every
dish at table, using his fingers instead of a fork,
seeming to prefer the rich dishes to the plain
1 The allied Governments, after Napoleon's escape from
Elba, proscribed him, and, of course, refused to grant to him
the imperial title which was accorded to him at Elba. — J. H. R.
2 Bertrand was a general of the army, but he kept the title
of Grand Marshal of the Palace. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 123
dressed food, and not even tasting vegetables.
Claret was his beverage, which he drank out of
a tumbler, keeping the bottle before him. He
conversed the whole of dinner-time, confining
his conversation principally to the admiral, with
whom he talked over the whole of the Russian
campaign, and attributed the failure of it in the
first instance to the burning of Moscow, in the
next to the frost setting in much sooner than
was expected. He said he meant only to have
refreshed his troops for four or five days, and
then to have pushed on for St. Petersburg ; but
finding all his plans frustrated by the burning
of Moscow, and his army likely to perish, he
hurried back to Paris, setting out with a chosen
body-guard, one half of which was frozen to death
the first night. 1 He said nothing could be more
horrible than the retreat from Moscow, and
indeed the whole of the Russian campaign ;
that for several days together it appeared to him
as if he were marching through a sea of fire,
owing to the constant succession of villages in
1 All this is put very loosely. He set out from Moscow on
October 19. The season was much more open than usual.
Cold weather did not set in till November 7 ; and no heavy
losses were sustained till severer weather set in in December. —
J. H. R.
124 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
flames, which arose in every direction as far as
the eye could reach. He said the burning of
these villages, as well as of Moscow, was
attributed to his troops, but that it was in-
variably done by the natives. 1 After dinner he
did not drink wine, but he took a glass of
noyau after his coffee, previous to rising from
table. After dinner he walked the deck, con-
versing principally with the admiral, and to
whom he said, during this conversation, that
previous to his going to Elba he had made pre-
parations for having a navy of a hundred sail of
the line ; 2 that he had established a conscription
for the navy ; and that the Toulon fleet was
entirely manned and brought forward by people
of this description ; that he had ordered them
positively to get under way and manoeuvre every
day the weather would permit, and to occasionally
exchange long shots with our ships ; that this
had been remonstrated against by those about
him, and it had cost him much money to repair
the accidents which occurred from the want of
maritime knowledge, such as ships getting foul
1 It is now known that the fires at Moscow and elsewhere
were due largely to the plundering of French and Polish
troops. — J. H. R.
* See his assertion on p. 88.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 125
of each other, splitting their sails, springing
their masts, &c. ; but he found this tended
to improve the crews, and he determined to
persevere in his plan. After walking for some
time, he proposed a round game of cards, in
compliance with which the admiral, Sir George
Bingham, Captain Ross, and myself assembled
with General Bonaparte and his followers in
the after cabin, where we played at vingt-un
[sic] (which was the game chosen by the ex-
emperor) till nearly eleven o'clock, when we all
retired to our beds.
Could any person ignorant of the events which
had so lately occurred have witnessed the group
at cards, he never could possibly have imagined
that it consisted of a fallen emperor, a fallen
marshal, two fallen generals, an ex-count, two
ex-countesses, an English admiral (guardian of
the fallen), and an English colonel, captain, and
secretary in office ; nor could he have dis-
tinguished any difference in the countenances
of those fallen and those in the plenitude of
their power.
As the ship had not been fitted for so many
passengers, there was difficulty in providing them
with adequate room and accommodation, as each
asked and expected a separate apartment. The
126 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
general was provided as before mentioned,
Captain Ross gave up his cabin to Marshal and
Madame Bertrand, I gave up mine to General
and Madame Montholon, and it was arranged
that General Gourgaud and Count Las Cases
were to sleep on sofa-beds in the after cabin, until
cabins could be built for them between decks.
August 8. — The weather unpleasant; wind
from north-east, with much swell. We lay to
most of this day off Plymouth, waiting to be
joined by the squadron destined to accompany
us. The Havannah, Zenobia, and Peruvian
joined during the day. The last was despatched
to Guernsey to procure French wines, and rejoin
us at Madeira. Owing to the swell and conse-
quent motion, but few of our guests were able to
come to table, and the general did not make his
appearance during the day.
August 9. — The Zephyr, Icarus, Redpole, and
Ferret joined from Plymouth, which completed
our destined squadron (except the Weymouth,
store-ship). We proceeded down Channel with
a fresh wind from the north-west and much swell.
The ex-emperor made his first appearance this
day about two o'clock, and after walking a short
time on deck he went into the after cabin, where
he played at chess until dinner was announced.
IB O^APAETE OJT 30AKH THE IB lE&EIROlPIH©^ OFF PlY.MOnra.
Ziiukn.Tit.lU,htd h Thorn.. k'-D)' Pi/.-r -:.'.■>_-■■ rowJan
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST HELENA 127
During the first part of the dinner he was very
reserved ; but after taking a few glasses of wine,
he threw off that reserve and conversed freely,
but chiefly with the admiral, of whom he made
many and particular inquiries relative to India
and the state of our forces there. He said that
formerly he had corresponded with Tippoo Saib,
and on going to Egypt he entertained hopes of
reaching India; 1 but the removal of the vizir, and
the change of politics with the Ottoman Porte,
with other circumstances, had frustrated his hopes
and prevented him pursuing that career which he
had at first contemplated. He sat but a short
time at dinner, and then went on deck, where he
walked, keeping his hat off and looking round
steadfastly and rather sternly to see if the British
officers did the same. However, as the admiral,
after saluting the deck, put his hat on, the officers
did the same (the admiral having previously
desired that the officers should not be uncovered),
and thus not a British head was uncovered, at
which he was evidently piqued, and soon retired
to the after cabin. His followers were constantly
uncovered in his presence, and watched his every
1 It is certain that he kept his gaze mainly on French
politics, and would not have gone so far as India. See his
words on p, 215. — J. H. R.
128 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
motion with obsequious attention. About 8 p.m.,
General Gourgaud begged of us to join the vingt-
un party, which the admiral, Sir George Bingham,
Captain Ross, and myself did, and played until
about half-past nine, when Bonaparte retired to
bed. During this evening he talked but little
and appeared sulky ; however, this produced no
alteration in our manners toward him, neither
was he paid more respect than any other
officer present. This afternoon the Zenobia was
despatched to put letters into the post-office at
Falmouth, off which place we were.
August 10. — The weather moderate ; the wind
to the westward, with considerable swell from
that quarter. As soon as the Zenobia rejoined,
we made sail on the starboard tack. Our pas-
sengers, with the exception of the general, were
all assembled at the second breakfast about half-
past ten. This meal consisted of soup, roasted
meat, a haricot, marmalade, with porter and
claret as a beverage (which, I understand, is the
constant breakfast of the general), the ladies, and
even the children, drinking both porter and wine
with water. Between two and three Bonaparte
made his appearance on deck, asking various
questions as to the names of the vessels with us,
the probable time of our voyage to Madeira, &c.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 129
His fellow-prisoners are ever uncovered in his
presence, and in speaking to him invariably
address him either " Sire " or " Votre Majeste,"
but the admiral as well as the officers at all times
address him as general. However, the difficulty
of repressing the inclination to pay him marked
attention is evident, and the curiosity of both
officers and men in watching his actions is very
easily perceived. About four o'clock he retired
to the after cabin, where he played at chess
with General Montholon until dinner-time. He
appeared to play but badly, and certainly very
much inferior to his antagonist, who neverthe-
less was determined not to win the game from
his ex- majesty. 1 At dinner he ate heartily of
every dish, his fork remaining useless, whilst his
fingers were busily employed. During dinner, in
conversation with the admiral relative to our
contests with America, he said Mr. Madison was
too late in declaring war ; that he had never
made any requisition to France for assistance ;
but that he (Bonaparte) would very readily have
lent any number of ships of the line Mr.
Madison might have wished for, if American
seamen could have been sent to man them and
1 Impatience of rules made Napoleon play poorly at all
games. See p. 206. — J. H. R.
9
13° NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
carry them to America, but that, the affairs of
France beginning to go wrong about that period,
it was out of his power to afford any material
assistance to the American Government. 1 During
the dinner he drank very heartily of claret out of
a tumbler, but nothing after dinner except a glass
of noyau. When coffee was served, he swallowed
his hastily, and got up from table before many of
us were even served, and went on deck, followed
by Marechal Bertrand and Comte Las Cases.
This induced the admiral to desire the remainder
of the party not to quit the table, and directed
the steward in future to serve coffee to the
general, and such of his followers as chose to take
it, immediately after the cloth was removed, whilst
we would continue at table and drink our wine.
Bonaparte walked the deck, asking various
trifling questions, until nearly dark, when our
vingt-un party was again formed. The general
was again unlucky, losing ten or twelve napoleons,
but with perfect good humour. About half-past
nine he retired to his sleeping-cabin. General
Gourgaud (who was one of the general's aides-de-
camp at the battle of Waterloo), in conversation
with the admiral, said that during that battle,
when the Prussians appeared, General Bonaparte
1 That is, against Great Britain in 1812. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 131
believed them to have been General Grouchy's
division, he having left between 30,000 and
40,000 men with that general under orders to
advance (in the direction from which the Prussians
came) if from the firing heard General Grouchy
should have reason to suppose the day was
obstinately contested by the English ; and this he
said induced Bonaparte to persist in his efforts so
long, and occasioned (when it was discovered that
there was nothing but Prussians on the French
flank) so general and complete a rout. 1 He said
Bonaparte was forced off the ground by Soult,
and he proceeded as quickly as possible after-
ward to Paris ; but so great were the panic and
disorder among the French soldiers that many of
them, without arms or accoutrements, actually
arrived in Paris, some behind carriages, and
others in carts, &c., on the same day with the
general and his attendants, not having halted
once from the moment of their quitting the field,
and reporting everywhere as they passed that
all was lost. Our latitude to-day at noon was
49 41' N.
1 Gourgaud was wrong. Napoleon knew by 2 p.m. that
the corps approaching from the east was Prussian, but he
counted on Grouchy marching after them and taking them
between two fires. See p. 147.— J. H. R.
132 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
August ii. — The weather bad and squally,
with an unpleasant swell and wind from the north-
west. Our guests were all sea-sick, and General
Gourgaud was the only one able to sit at table.
Bonaparte did not quit his cabin the whole day.
Marechal Bertrand, in a conversation relative to
General Bonaparte's return, stated it was ac-
tuated by what the papers mentioned of the dis-
tracted state of France, and that he was received
everywhere as a father returning to his children.
Our latitude to-day was 48 48' N., longitude
5° 58' W.
August 12. — The weather moderate; wind to
the westward, with much swell, which caused so
unpleasant a motion as to prevent our female
guests from assembling at the breakfast-table.
About three o'clock Bonaparte made his appear-
ance upon deck ; but owing to the motion, he
found it difficult to walk. However, with the help
of Sir George Bingham's arm, he walked for
about half an hour, asking commonplace ques-
tions, and pitying those on board the brigs in
company, which seemed to roll and pitch very
much. General Montholon, Comte Las Cases,
and the two ladies complained much of sea-sick-
ness ; nevertheless, we all assembled at five
o'clock at dinner, except General Montholon.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 133
Bonaparte was more silent than usual, and did
not eat so heartily, apparently affected by the
motion. After dinner he walked a considerable
time with the admiral, in earnest conversation.
About eight we adjourned to the after cabin, and
played the usual game of vingt-un until near ten.
The admiral told me that in the conversation
with the general this evening, in speaking of
Ferdinand of Spain, he (the general) considered
him both a fool and a coward, that he was
perfectly under the dominion of priesthood, and
was merely a passive instrument in the hands of
the monks. He added that he looked on King
Charles of Spain as an honest, good man, but
that he had lost everything by his attachment to
a bad wife. Among other things he mentioned
that Baron de Kolly, who was sent by the British
Government to bring off Ferdinand, was first
discovered by his endeavouring to gain some
person to his interest in Paris, and also from
suspicion excited by the command of money
which he appeared to possess ; that upon his
being arrested all his papers were discovered, and
then it was determined to send off a police officer
from Paris to personate Kolly at Valen^ay, to
deliver the Prince Regent's letter, and to assure
Ferdinand that everything was prepared for his
i34 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
escape, purposely to prove how he would act
under such circumstances ; but in spite of every-
thing this sham Kolly could urge (and Bonaparte
added that he was a clever fellow), Ferdinand's
courage was not equal to the undertaking, and he
obstinately refused to have anything to do with
the supposed agent of Great Britain. 1 The
general said that until Kolly was discovered at
Paris, the French Government had no idea of our
attempting to carry off Ferdinand ; but, however,
he was quite convinced, had Kolly not been dis-
covered, the pusillanimity of Ferdinand would
have prevented all possibility of our success.
Our latitude this day at noon was 46 30' N., and
longitude 8° 2' W.
August 13. — The weather very fine, with
calms. Napoleon has hitherto breakfasted in
his cabin. Our other guests were all assembled
at the second breakfast, and it was evident from
their appetites that they had forgot their sea-sick-
ness. During the forenoon Madame Bertrand
expressed great regret at having undertaken the
voyage ; she also expressed hopes that Marechal
1 Baron de Kolly's plan failed owing to the treason of a
subordinate. The scheme of the sham Kolly was seen
through by Ferdinand himself. See Alison, "History of
Europe," ch. lxv.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 135
Bertrand and herself would be allowed to return
to England in the course of twelve months. 1
Between two and three the general came on deck,
and walked until nearly dinner-time. He made
many inquiries relative to a French merchant
brig spoken by one of the squadron, which was
fourteen days from Havre. He seemed anxious
to know how long we should be in reaching
Madeira, and whether we were likely to remain
there. At dinner the Rev. George Rennell,
chaplain of the ship, who had been invited to
dine with us, happening to sit opposite the general,
the latter observed him with peculiar attention,
and during the whole of the dinner-time he was
completely occupied in asking questions relative
to the Protestant religion — asking what were the
forms of our church service ; whether we used
music ; whether we used extreme unction ;
whether we prayed for the dead ; how many
sacraments we had, and how often the sacrament
was performed ; whether our religion was similar
to either the Calvinist or Lutheran ; whether
length of time was necessary to study, and how
long so before a clergyman could be ordained ;
1 She induced General Bertrand, when signing for permis-
sion to go to St. Helena, to stipulate that it should be for only
twelve months. — J. H. R.
136 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
how many different sects of dissenters we had in
England ; whether we believed in transubstan-
tiation — in fact, he asked almost every possible
question. He also asked Mr. Rennell whether
he had ever seen the Roman Catholic worship
performed ; and being answered in the affirmative
(in Spain), he said, " Ah, there you would see
it with every pompous effect." After dinner he
walked until nearly dark, when he retired to the
after cabin. I went in shortly after, and, on
taking up one of his books, of which he has a
very good collection, he asked me if I had ever
read Ossian. 1 I replied I had in English, when
he said, " I do not know what it is in English,
but it is very fine in French," and immediately
offered me the book he had in his hand, and
which was Ossian. After conversing a few
minutes, he asked, " What is the hour ? " and
being told it was eight, he said, "It is time
to play at vingt-un." Madame Bertrand, seeing
that I appeared somewhat surprised, it being
Sunday evening, said, " Do you never play cards
on Sunday ? " I replied it was not customary.
Bonaparte said, " Why, the upper circles in
London play cards on Sunday," to which I
1 Macpherson (the supposed Ossian) was Napoleon's
favourite poet. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 137
assented. He then said, " The admiral, I
suppose, will not dislike it. Send for him and
the colonel " (meaning Sir George Bingham).
Cards were produced, and we played for about
an hour (but neither the admiral nor Sir George
Bingham joined the party), when Bonaparte went
to bed. Our latitude at noon was 45 42' N.,
longitude 8° 10' W.
August 14. — Light winds, with a continuation
of fine weather. Bonaparte, as usual, breakfasted
in his cabin. He walked the deck both before
and after dinner, and spent the evening playing
at vingt-un; but nothing occurred in his con-
versation worthy of notice. Both he and the
admiral appeared distant to each other. Madame
Bertrand during the day made many anxious
inquiries as to whether the English ministry
would allow her and the mardchal to return to
England. To-day, in a conversation with Mr.
Barry O'Meara, late surgeon of the Bellerophon,
who was permitted by Lord Keith, at the request
of General Bonaparte, to accompany him to St.
Helena (and who is now considered one of the
general's suite), he told me that on July 15 the
following persons quitted France with Bonaparte. 1
1 Generaux. — Le Lieutenant General Comte Bertrand,
grand marechal; le Lieutenant-General Due de Rovigo; le
138 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
To-day at noon our latitude was 45 13' N.,
and longitude 90 5' W. We had still light airs,
with the wind to the westward, and with much
less swell than usual.
August 15. — This being Bonaparte's birthday,
all his followers appeared dressed in their best.
He walked as usual before dinner, and appeared
particularly cheerful. He asked numerous
questions relative to the Cape of Good Hope ;
Lieutenant-General Baron Lallemand (refused permission to
go), A.D.C. a sa Majeste; le Lieutenant-General Baron
Gourgaud, A.D.C. a sa Majeste; Le Comte Las Cases,
conseiller d'etat.
Dames. — Madame la Comtesse Bertrand ; Madame la
Comtesse Montholon.
Officiers. — Lieutenant-Colonel De Planat ; M. Maingaut,
chirurgien de sa Majeste. Mr. Barry O'Meara, surgeon of the
Belkrophon, accompanies the general as his surgeon in lieu of
M. Maingaut, who was re-landed in France.
Enfants. — Three children of Madame la Comtesse Ber-
trand ; one child of Madame la Comtesse Montholon.
Officier. — M. Las Cases, page.
Service de la Chambre. — M. Marchand, 1st valet de
chambre; M. Gilli, valet de chambre; M. St. Denis, valet
de chambre; M. Navarra, valet de chambre; M. Denis,
garcon de garde-robe.
Livree. — M. Archambaud, 1st valet de pied ; M. Gaudron,
valet de pied ; M. Gentilini, valet de pied.
Service de la Bouche. — M. Fontain, 1st maftre d'h6tel ;
M. Freron, 1st chef d'office ; M. La Fosse, 1st cuisinier ;
M. Le Page, cuisinier ; two femmes de chambre de Madame
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 139
as to the colour of the natives ; their disposition ;
what inland traffic was carried on ; how far the
interior had been explored. During the dinner
he reverted to his northern campaign, saying
had he succeeded in that, he seriously intended
to have invaded Great Britain. At dinner we
all drank his health in compliment to his birth-
la Comtesse Bertrand ; one femme de chambre de Madame la
Comtesse de Montholon.
Suite de Personnes qui accompagnent sa Majesty. —
One valet de chambre du Due de Rovigo; one valet de
chambre du Comte Bertrand ; one valet de chambre du Comte
Montholon ; one valet de pied du Comte Bertrand. The fore-
going went on board the Belkrophon.
Officiers. — Le lieutenant-Colonel Resigny; Capitaine
Autrie ; Capitaine Piontkowski ; Sous-Lieutenant St. Catherine ;
Lieutenant-Colonel Schultz; Capitaine Mercher; Lieutenant
Riviere.
Suite de sa Majeste. — Cipriani, maitre d'hdtel ;
Rosseau, lampiste ; Archambaud, valet de pied ; Liviany,
garde d'office ; Fumeau, valet de pied. The above on board
the Myrmidon.
N.B. — The names were copied from the original French
list on board the Belkrophon. General Gourgaud, one of the
first mentioned, went to England with a letter to the Prince
Regent ; but, not being permitted to land, he returned on
board the Belkrophon when that ship arrived in Torbay.
[Savary, Due de Rovigo, General Lallemand, Colonel Planat,
M. Maingaut, and some of the servants, did not proceed to
St. Helena. Twelve valets and servants went thither on
board the Northumberland. See Captain Maitland's " Narra-
tive " ad fin.— -J. H. R.J
i4° NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
day, with which civility he seemed much pleased.
He walked a considerable time with the admiral
after dinner, talking of the invasion of England.
He said that when the demonstration was made
at Boulogne, he had most perfectly and decidedly
made up his mind to it (the invasion) ; that his
putting guns into the praams and the rest of
his armed flotilla was only to deceive and
endeavour to make us believe he intended to
make a descent upon England with their
assistance only, whereas he had never intended
to make any other use of them than as transports,
and entirely depended on his fleets being enabled
to deceive ours by the route and manoeuvres he
intended them to make ; and that they would
thereby be enabled to get off Boulogne, so as
to have a decided superiority in the Channel
long enough to insure his making good a landing,
for which he said everything was so arranged
and prepared that he would have required only
twenty-four hours after arriving at the spot fixed
on. 1 He said he had 200,000 men for this
service, out of which 6,000 were cavalry, which
would have been landed with horses and every
appointment complete and fit for acting the
moment they were put on shore ; and that the
1 See note on p. 89.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 141
praams were particularly intended for carrying
over these horses. He said the exact point of
debarkation had not been fixed on, as he con-
sidered it not material, and only therefore to
be determined by the winds and circumstances
of the moment ; but that he intended to have
got as near to Chatham as he conveniently could,
to have secured our resources there at once, and
to have pushed on to London by that road. He
told Sir George Cockburn he had ordered his
Mediterranean admiral to proceed with his fleet
to Martinique to distract our attention, and draw
our fleet after him, and then to exert the utmost
efforts to get quickly back to Europe ; and
looking into Brest (where he had ordered another
fleet under Gantheaume to be ready to join him),
the whole was to push up Channel to Boulogne,
where he (Bonaparte) was to be ready to join
them, and to move with them over to our coast
at an hour's notice. And in point of fact, he
said, he was so ready, his things embarked, and
himself anxiously looking for the arrival of his
fleets, when he heard of their having returned
indeed to Europe ; but instead of their coming
into the Channel, in conformity with the instruc-
tions he had given, they had got to Cadiz, where
they were blocked up by the English fleet, with
142 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
which they "had had a partial engagement off
Ferrol, and thus, he said, by the disobedience
and want of management of his admirals, he saw
in a moment that all his hopes with regard to
invading England were frustrated, with this
additional disadvantage (which he had fully
foreseen when he first turned in his mind the
idea of such an attempt), that the preparations
at Boulogne had given a stronger military bias
to every individual in England, and enabled
ministers to make greater efforts than they other-
wise perhaps would have been permitted to do.
He added that he believed, however, the English
administration had entertained great alarms for
the issue, if he had got over, as his secret agents
at the Russian court reported to him that Great
Britain had most pressingly urged that court with
Austria to declare war against France for the
purpose of averting from England the danger of
this threatened invasion, which he said, however,
he had given up from the moment he found his
fleets had failed. 1 Having then turned his whole
1 Far from this being so, the British Government insisted
on terms (respecting Malta) which were repugnant to the
Czar Alexander, with the result that the Anglo-Russian
alliance was formed very slowly and with great difficulty. —
J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 143
attention to his new enemies on the Continent,
his force collected at Boulogne enabled him to
make the sudden movement which proved fatal
to General Mack, and gave him (Bonaparte) all
the advantages which followed. In short, the
account he gave very much tallied with Gold-
smith's relation of the same circumstances as
given in his " History of the Cabinet of St.
Cloud." *
During the conversation Bonaparte told the
admiral in a manner not at all suspicious that
Admiral Villeneuve decidedly put himself to
death, though the general in talking of him
seemed very strongly impressed with an idea of
that admiral's unpardonable neglect, disobedience,
and negligence throughout. 2 He also said that he
had ordered Admiral Dumanoir to be tried by a
court martial for his conduct at the battle of
Trafalgar, and that he had exerted all his influence
to have him shot or broke, but that he had been
acquitted in spite of him ; and he added that
when the sentence of acquittal was given, Admiral
Cosmao (who was one of the members of the
court, and whom he said he decidedly considered
1 For this Goldsmith, see p. 192.
2 Villeneuve committed suicide at Rennes on April 22,
1806.— J. H. R.
i44 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
to be the best sea officer now in France, and
whom he had therefore lately created a peer)
broke his own sword at the time that of Dumanoir
was returned to him, which act Bonaparte seemed
most highly pleased with. 1 In the course of the
evening he told Sir George that he had prepared
a strong expedition at Antwerp, destined to act
against Ireland, which he had only been prevented
from sending forward by his own affairs taking an
unfavourable turn on the Continent. He was in
very high spirits this evening, and was very
fortunate at vingt-un, which seemed to please
him the more as it was his birthday. Our latitude
and longitude this day at noon were 43 51' N.
and io° 21' W.
August 16. — Our fine weather continued, with
light airs. Bonaparte walked before and after
dinner, and was particularly cheerful in con-
versation, asking a variety of questions relative
to St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope. He
inquired most particularly as to the number of
respectable families at St. Helena, the number
of ladies there, and how many officers' wives
were in the squadron. After dinner to-day he
had a long conversation with the admiral, whom
1 Dumanoir commanded the French van at Trafalgar, and
did not " wear about " with sufficient promptness. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 145
he assured, on his word of honour, that on return-
ing from Elba he had not held communication or
correspondence with, nor had he received any
invitation from, any of the marshals or generals
whatever, and that it was entirely owing to the
representations in the public papers of the state
of France that he was induced to return, and no
longer to hesitate in taking the steps he did. 1 He
stated that, on reaching Grenoble, the garrison
showed an inclination to resist his progress, but
that on his putting himself in front, throwing open
his great-coat to show himself more conspicuously,
and calling out, " Kill your Emperor if you wish
it ! " the whole immediately joined, and that after-
ward he received nothing but congratulations
and proofs of attachment all the way to Paris.
Marechal Bertrand related to me the foregoing
circumstances in a very similar manner, adding,
however, that at first Bonaparte found some
difficulty in inducing the officers to espouse his
cause, and that many of them, on being sent for
by Bonaparte, stated that they had taken the oath
of allegiance to Louis XVIII., and consequently
that as their troops had deserted them their ap-
pointments were null and void, and that they had
1 Another reason was that he believed the allies in the
Congress of Vienna to be on the verge of a rupture. — J. H. R.
146 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
acted up to their faith as far as regarded Louis.
Bonaparte then asked them if they would accept
commissions from him, when there were very few
but what replied in the affirmative, and served
under his banners. Bertrand also said that as
they proceeded towards Paris their forces in-
creased most rapidly ; that he felt convinced that
Marechal Ney left Paris with a full intention of
opposing Bonaparte, but, finding his army to a
man quitting him, he espoused the cause of
Bonaparte, and became a strenuous supporter
of his. Bonaparte, amongst other things, told the
admiral that on his return to Paris from Elba he
had paid too much attention to, and had submitted
too much to the opinion of, the Jacobin party,
which he was now persuaded had not been so
requisite as he then conceived it to be ; and that
had he depended altogether on his own popularity,
he should have succeeded better. 1 He said the
circumstances of the times compelled him to form
his army quickly, and how he could ; and in
consequence of not having time to examine and
weed it, many officers remained in it who had
received their appointments from Louis XVIII.,
1 There were very few Jacobins in France in 1815.
Napoleon dubbed the Constitutional Liberals " Jacobins," in
order to discredit them. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 147
and who were much disaffected to him, and
anxious to betray him. He said many of his
officers deserted previous to the battle of Water-
loo ; x and in speaking of the French nation he
said that the lower orders of the people were the
most sincere, the most firm, and at the same time
the best dispositioned in the world ; but in the
proportion as you rose the class their characters
became the worse, and above the bourgeois they
were too fickle and too volatile to be at all
depended on. They had one principle for to-day
and another for to-morrow, according to the
circumstances of the moment ; and he attributed
his Waterloo disasters solely to the disaffected
officers of his army. In talking of the battle he
assured the admiral he had never for a moment
mistook the Prussians for Grouchy's division, but
that he knew early in the day that the Prussians
were closing on his flank ; that this, however,
gave him little or no uneasiness, as he depended
on General Grouchy also closing with him at the
same time, and he had ordered a sufficient force
to oppose the Prussians, who were in fact already
checked. And he added that he considered the
1 General Bourmont, with the officers of his division (in
Gerard's corps) deserted to the Prussians early on June 15. —
J. H. R.
148 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
battle throughout the day to be very much in his
favour, but that so soon as it was dusk the dis-
affected officers promulgated the cry of " Sauve
quipeut!" which spread such confusion and alarm
throughout his whole line that it became impos-
sible to counteract it, or to rally his troops, situated
as they were. But, he said, had it been daylight
an hour longer, he was positive the result would
have been very different ; he further said that had
he been able, when the alarm and confusion first
took place, to have placed himself in a conspicuous
situation in front, it would have insured the rally-
ing of all his troops around him ; but as it was,
treachery and darkness combined rendered his
ruin inevitable. 1 He said that on the morning
of June 1 8th he did not entertain the most distant
idea that the Duke of Wellington would have
willingly allowed him to have brought the English
army to a decisive battle, and consequently he
had been the more anxious to push on, and if
possible to force it, considering nothing else could
1 This is, of course, absurd. A prolongation of daylight
would have made the Prussian pursuit even more effective
than it was. This whole narration shows the chief cause of
Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, namely, that he was a victim
to his preconceived notions of the state of affairs. He gave
battle without taking due thought of Bliicher, whom he
believed hors de combat for some days after Ligny. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 149
offer him a chance of surmounting the difficulties
with which he was surrounded ; but, he added,
could he have beaten the English army, he was
positive scarcely one would have escaped being
either killed or taken, in which case the Prussian
army (having been already beaten on the 16th)
must have made a precipitate retreat, or most
probably would have been dispersed, and cer-
tainly entirely disorganised. It was his intention
then to have pushed on by forced marches to
have met the Austrians before any junction could
have been made between them and the Russians,
which would have placed the game in his own
hands, even if hostilities had been obstinately
persevered in ; though in the state of things he
had built on the idea that a victory over the
English army in Belgium, with its immediate
results, would have been sufficient to have pro-
duced a change of administration in England,
and have afforded him a chance of concluding an
armistice, which he said was really his first object,
as he felt that France was not equal to the efforts
she was then making, and it was perfectly impos-
sible for her to think of making any adequate
resistance against the numerous forces of the
allies, if once united and acting in concert against
him. He said that things, however, having taken
i5o NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
the turn they did against him, he was compelled
to act as he had done, and he felt convinced that
Great Britain had not pursued the wisest policy
by refusing him an asylum, as he was ready to
have pledged his honour, and would have done
so, not to have quitted the kingdom, nor to have
interfered in any manner directly or indirectly
with the affairs of France, or in politics of any
sort, unless hereafter requested so to do by our
Government ; that the influence he had over the
minds of the people of every description in France
would have enabled him to have kept them quiet
under whatever terms it might have been thought
necessary for the future security of Europe to
impose on France ; but that if terms at all re-
pugnant to the vanity of the French nation were
acquiesced in by the Bourbons, it would render
them more unpopular than they even are at
present, and that the people, sooner or later
(waiting a favourable crisis), would rise en masse
for their destruction. He said the disbanding of
the French army was of little or no consequence,
as the nation was now altogether military, and
could always form into an army at any given
signal. The admiral, in answer to the observa-
tions he had made, said that after the events of
latter years, he did not think the Government of
NAPOLEON, ON BOARD THE ' ' RE I.LEROPHOX,
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 151
Great Britain could be supposed to have sufficient
reliance in him (Bonaparte) to have allowed him
to take up his residence in England, due reference
being had to the present state of affairs in France
and to the feelings of the allies on the Continent,
however conscious he himself might be of his own
integrity and of the sacredness with which he
would have observed any stipulations to which
he would have pledged his word of honour. The
admiral observed that he therefore was surprised
at his not retiring in preference to Austria, where
his connection with the emperor would have
afforded him a strong claim to more distinguished
reception and consideration. Bonaparte replied
that had he gone to Austria he had no doubt but
what he would have been received with every
attention, but that he could not bring himself to
submit to receive a favour from the Emperor of
Austria after the manner in which he had now
taken part against him, notwithstanding his former
professions of affection, and his close connection
with him, which latter, Bonaparte added, had not
by any means been sought for by himself. He
then gave the following curious relation respecting
his marriage with Maria Louise. He said that,
when at Erfurth, the Emperor Alexander took an
opportunity one day of pressing upon him how
iS2 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
important his having a legitimate heir must prove
to the future repose of France and Europe, and
Alexander therefore advised his setting aside
Josephine, to which if he would consent the
emperor offered him in marriage a Russian
princess (he believed Princess Anne was named). 1
But Bonaparte said he did not at the moment
pay much attention ; for, having lived so long
with Josephine in such harmony, and having so
much reason to be satisfied with her, the idea of
causing her pain disinclined him from entering
further on the subject ; added to which, he said
he was already well aware of the falseness of the
character of the Emperor Alexander. He there-
fore merely observed in reply that as he was
living on the best possible terms with Josephine,
he had never even thought of an arrangement of
the nature mentioned by his imperial majesty.
However, some time after, when at Paris, being
1 This is false. Napoleon at Erfurt, in September, 1808
was already contemplating a divorce, and therefore caused
overtures to be made indirectly to the Czar Alexander with
a view to a marriage alliance with a Russian grand duchess.
Alexander waved aside the proposal, and caused his sister
Catherine to be at once affianced to the Grand Duke of
Oldenburg. The Grand Duchess Anne was then only
fourteen years of age. See Vandal, " Napoleon et Alexandre,"
vol. i. pp. 471-2. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 153
strongly urged by his own friends on the same
point, and Josephine having herself assented, he
sent to Russia to acquaint Alexander of his wish
and readiness to espouse the Russian princess
who had been proffered him when at Erfurth.
This intimation, he said, the Russian Government
received with every outward mark of satisfaction,
professing its readiness to accede to the match,
but at the same time starting difficulties upon
various points, and most particularly with regard
to securing the princess the right of exercising
her own religion, to which end it was demanded
that a Greek chapel might be established for her
in the Tuileries. This, Bonaparte said, he did
not care about himself ; but being a thing so
uncustomary, added to other points requested by
Russia, much discussion and many difficulties
arose with regard to the Russian alliance, when
some of his ministers, with Beauharnais, his son-
in-law [sic'], waited on him and pressed the
advantage which might result should he consent
to ask in marriage an Austrian princess, adding
that the Austrian ambassador would readily
engage for his court coming into any arrange-
ment he (Bonaparte) might wish for this object.
To which he replied, if such was the case, and
the affair could be concluded at once, he should
154 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
not on his part make objections to this new plan,
and would give up the idea of forming a Russian
alliance. This being the case, it was instantly
agreed upon to take the contract of marriage of
Louis XIV. for a guide in arranging his with the
Austrian princess ; and such was the expedition
used that the necessary documents were prepared,
signed, and sent off for the approbation of the
Emperor of Austria before twelve o'clock that
night. The latter acceded without hesitation to
everything, and by his manner of forwarding it
gave all reason to believe he was not only satis-
fied, but most highly pleased with the arrange-
ment ; and thus Bonaparte said he became the
emperor's son-in-law without any other solicitation
or intrigue on his part, and without having even
once seen Maria Louise until she arrived in
France as his wife. He therefore thought the
emperor's conduct toward him since his reverses
began was not in unison with his conduct or
profession toward him in prosperity, or such as
he had a right to expect from the father of his
wife ; and consequently he said he would rather
have gone anywhere in his distress, or have done
anything, than have placed himself in a situation
to have been obliged to ask protection as a favour
from a prince who he thought had behaved toward
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 155
him so unjustly. 1 He finished by saying he had
been deceived by the English, but, harshly and
unfairly as he considered himself treated by them,
yet he found comfort from feeling that he was
under the protection of British laws, which he
could not have felt had he gone elsewhere, where
his fate might have depended on the whim of the
individual. He scarcely said anything as to his
wish to have escaped to America, although in
different conversations with his followers they
have implied he was very anxious to get there
and to live as a private individual without
meddling with politics. He played his game
of vingt-un as usual, and went to bed about ten
o'clock. Our latitude and longitude to-day at
noon were 42 59' N. and io° 42' W.
August 17. — Light winds and pleasant weather.
This day the Peruvian rejoined us from Guernsey,
where she had been sent for French wines.
Captain White having brought some French news-
papers, they were read with avidity by our guests.
At dinner Bonaparte remarked that the presidents
des ddpartements et des arrondissements appointed
by Louis were with very few exceptions the same
1 This refers to the Emperor Francis. At Plymouth, also,
during his interview with Lord Keith as to his destination,
Napoleon exclaimed, "Russie! Dieu m'en garde." — J. H. R.
156 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
persons that he (Bonaparte) should have appointed
had he continued in power. In the evening, when
talking of himself, he told the admiral that he had
been placed in chief command as a general officer
at the age of twenty-four ; that he made the
conquest of Italy when he was twenty-five ; l that
he had risen from nothing to be sovereign of his
country (as 'consul) at thirty, and that if chance
had caused him to be killed the day after he
entered Moscow, that his would have been a
career of advancement and uninterrupted success
without parallel ; and he said the very misfortunes
which afterwards befell the French army would
in such case most probably have tended rather to
the advantage than disadvantage of his fame, as,
however inevitable they were, they would have
been attributed to his loss, rather than to their
true cause.
We played our usual game of vingt-un, and
Bonaparte quitted the table abruptly, and went
to bed earlier than usual. Our latitude and
longitude this day at noon were 41 57' N. and
ii° n' W.
August 18. — Moderate weather. Bonaparte
renewed his questions to-day relative to the Cape,
1 These statements give his age as two years less than he
was in the autumn of 1795 and of 1796- — J- H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 157
and asked particularly whether any caravans went
from thence to Egypt, and whether any person
had ever penetrated across the country. In the
evening he talked much with the admiral about
the Queen of Naples, saying he had had much
correspondence with her, as well while she was in
Sicily as in Naples ; that his general advice to
her was to remain quiet, and not interfere with
the arrangements of the greater powers of Europe. 1
By letters received from his wife he learned that
after the Queen of Naples had returned to Vienna
she had taken great notice of, and had been very
kind to, his son ; and that in a conversation she
had with his wife, she had asked her why she
did not follow him (Bonaparte) to Elba. Maria
Louise answered that she wished to do so, but
that her father and mother would not allow her.
The Queen of Naples interrogated her as to
whether she really liked him, when, being an-
swered in the affirmative, and Maria Louise
speaking further in his favour, the queen said to
her, " My child, when one has the happiness to
1 This was Maria Carolina, consort of the Bourbon king,
Ferdinand IV. It is known that while in Sicily, under the
protection of a British force, she intrigued with the French.
Ultimately, Lord William Bentinck had her sent away from
the island. She died in Austria on September 7, 18 14. —
J. H. R.
158 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
be married to such a man, papas and mamas
should not keep one away from him whilst there
are windows and sheets by which an escape to
him might be effected."
In the course of the evening he told the
admiral he considered the Russians and Poles to
be decidedly a braver race of people than all the
rest of Europe, except the French and English,
and in particular very far superior to the Aus-
trians. He said the Emperor of Austria possessed
neither firmness nor stability of character ; that
the King of Prussia was un pauvre bite; that
the Emperor Alexander was a more active and
clever man than any of the other sovereigns of
Europe, but that he was extremely false. He
asked the admiral if he was aware that, when in
friendship with him at Erfurth, he had signed
with him a joint letter to the King of England to
require the relinquishing of the right of maritime
visitation of neutrals. 1 He said that Russia was
much to be feared if Poland was not preserved in
1 This was on October 12, 1808. The chief demand of
the Emperors in their joint note was to obtain from George III.
a recognition of the existing boundaries (implicitly) and the
abandonment of the Spanish patriots. It contained no
reference to the British maritime code. See the note in
Vandal's "Napoleon et Alexandre," vol. i. pp. 483-4.—
J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 159
an independent state, to be a barrier between
Russia and the rest of Europe. He added, how-
ever, that whatever might be decided on this
subject at the congress, he did not think that
Russia would succeed in making Poland an
appendage to that empire, the Poles being too
brave and too determined ever to be brought to
submit quietly to what they considered as dis-
grace and national degradation. Bonaparte spoke
in high terms of the King of Saxony, and said he
was the only sovereign who had kept faith with
him to the last. In the course of conversation he
mentioned that the Bourbons were most cordially
hated in France, and that nothing but the allied
forces could keep them on the throne ; that the
nation might be quiet for a short time, but that
in a few years there would, in his opinion, be a
general insurrection. We played as usual at
vingt-un until near ten, when Bonaparte retired.
Our latitude and longitude this day at noon were
48° 50' N. and 1 1° 20' W.
August 19. — We had light airs and pleasant
weather. Our guests were all in good humour.
General Gourgaud, who was one of Bonaparte's
aides-de-camp at the battle of Waterloo, per-
sisted that, whatever Bonaparte might say to the
contrary, he did mistake the Prussian army for
160 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
General Grouchy's division, and he attributed
their disasters in a great measure to that mistake.
He boasted much of the exploits of that day ;
amongst other vauntings he declared that at one
time he might have taken the Duke of Welling-
ton a prisoner, but he desisted from it, knowing
the effusion of blood it would have occasioned. 1
Bonaparte to-day gave the admiral an amusing
account of his being admitted a Mussulman when
in Egypt. He said the sheiks and other chiefs
there had many consultations on the subject, but
at last they admitted him and his followers among
the faithful, and with express permission to drink
wine, provided that on opening every bottle they
would determine to do some good action. Bona-
parte requiring an explanation of what was in-
tended by the term good action, the head sheik
informed him such as giving charity to people in
distress, digging a well in a desert, building a
mosque, and such like. He said that had he
continued in Egypt, things would not have taken
the turn they did ; that Kleber was an excellent
man and good soldier, but that he did not under-
stand or try to manage 2 the people of the country,
1 Of course this gasconnade is not to be taken seriously. —
J. H. R.
* " Manage " is evidently Cockburn's or Glover's translation
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 161
and that his assassination was caused by his having
beaten one of the principal sheiks, which was
considered an indignity to the whole. Bonaparte
said that General Menou, who succeeded Kleber,
was a brave man, but without abilities. He also
stated that the Turks have at different times sent
persons to murder him (Bonaparte), but that the
people of the country, from his having humoured
them, invariably gave him sufficient warning and
prevented the assassins getting near him ; whereas
he said the man who killed Kleber (who did not
attempt to gain the good opinion of the country)
was suffered to hide himself in Kleber's garden,
and when the general was walking there alone,
the assassin sprang upon him unawares, and
stabbed him, after which, instead of attempting
to escape, he sat down at one end of the garden
until he was taken by the general's guard, which
was almost immediately after he had perpetrated
the deed. However, Marshal Bertrand, who
relates this event in a very similar manner, affirms
that the assassin did attempt to escape, and that
after a strict search he was found concealed in a
well in the garden. Bonaparte, in answer to some
of the French word mlnager, which is better rendered
"humour." Kleber was murdered by a Moslem fanatic on
June 14, 1800. — J. H. R.
11
i6 2 NAPOLEOJSTS LAST VOYAGES
questions put to him by the admiral, said that if
everything had even turned out in Egypt equal
to the most sanguine hopes and wishes he enter-
tained on sailing for that country, yet that never-
theless he should have returned as he did, in
consequence of the information he received from
France.
Bonaparte played at vingt-un as usual, and was
in uncommon high spirits. Our latitude and
longitude to-day at noon were 39 9' N. and
1 1° 26' W.
August 20. — The weather continued fine, but
we had much swell, to which I attributed Bona-
parte's not walking before dinner. Divine service
was performed, but not one of our guests had the
curiosity to witness the ceremony. At dinner
Bonaparte asked the clergyman many questions
relative to the Protestant religion, and in what it
differed from the Roman Catholic. He walked
after dinner, and then went direct to his sleeping-
cabin without playing at cards. Our latitude
and longitude to-day were 2>7° l 9 r N. and
12 14/ W.
August 21. — Our weather continued much the
same. Captain Hamilton of the Havannah, and
Captain Mansel of the 53rd, dined with us, and
Bonaparte, who was in very good spirits, con-
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 163
versed more than usual, asking numerous ques-
tions on various trifling subjects. We assembled
at the card-table earlier than usual, and the game
was changed from vingt-un to lottery, and we
became as noisy a group as ever assembled on
such an occasion. Our latitude and longitude
to-day at noon were 35 56' N. and 13 16' W.
August 22. — We got the north-east wind which
usually prevails in these latitudes, with fine
weather. Bonaparte requested the admiral to
write for some books for him from Madeira. At
dinner he asked many questions about the dif-
ferent islands in the Atlantic, particularly to what
nations they belonged, on which points his
ignorance was most glaring. Talking of the
West Indies, he said that had he continued at
the head of the French Government, he never
would have attempted the re-occupation of St.
Domingo ; that the most he would have estab-
lished with regard to that island would have
been to keep frigates and sloops stationed around
it to force the blacks to receive everything they
wanted from, and to export all their produce
exclusively to, France ; for, he added, he con-
sidered the independence of the blacks there to
be more likely to prove detrimental to England
than to France. This latter remark is a reitera-
i6 4 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
tion of his feelings with respect to England, as in
all the calculations he makes, the proportion of
evil which may accrue to our nation seems to
bear in his mind the first consideration. In the
evening we played at vingt-un, and he retired
about his usual hour. Our latitude and longitude
to-day were at noon 34° 58' N. and 13 31' W.
August 23. — Our north-east wind veered to the
east, freshened, and the weather became hot,
hazy, and unpleasant. About two o'clock we
made Porto Santo, and afterward Madeira.
Bonaparte did not walk before dinner ; at the
meal he appeared pensive and out of spirits. He
asked the admiral some questions relative to
Madeira, as to its extent, how long it had been
discovered, and by whom. Immediately after
dinner he went on the poop, and observed the
island very particularly as we ran along it until
we brought to off Funchal after dark, when he
went to the after cabin ; and after playing a few
games at piquet with Madame Montholon, he
retired to his own cabin, evidently out of sorts.
This day at noon we were about nine leagues
E.S.E. of Porto Santo.
August 24. — We remained lying to off Funchal,
the Havannah and troop-ships anchored in the
roads to procure water and some cattle, and I
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 165
went on shore to procure some wine and fruit.
Mr. Veitch, His Majesty's consul, visited the ship,
of whom Bonaparte asked numerous questions
with respect to the island, its produce, the height
above the level of the sea, its population, &c.
Mr. Veitch dined on board, and after dinner
Bonaparte walked with him and the admiral a
considerable time, conversing on general topics,
when he retired at once to his bedroom without
joining the card-table. This day at noon we lay
to off the town of Funchal, Madeira.
August 25. — We had a continuation of the
violent and most disagreeable siroc wind, which
commenced on our first making the island ; and
such was the superstition of the inhabitants, that
they attributed this destructive siroc to Bona-
parte being off the island, and were extremely
apprehensive that their crops, which were nearly
ripe, would be more than half destroyed. The
frigate and troop-ships did not join until about
three o'clock, having been much retarded by the
violence of the weather in procuring supplies,
which supplies, owing to the same cause, took us
until dark in receiving, after which we made sail
to the southward. The heat of the siroc, and
the disagreeable nature of the wind, added to the
motion of the ship, which was very considerable,
i66 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
evidently affected General Bonaparte. At dinner
he ate very little, and was out of spirits ; this
evening he played at vingt-un for about half an
hour only, and then retired to his bedroom.
During the day, at the recommendation of the
admiral, he had his standing bed-place removed,
taking a large cot in its stead. This day at
noon we were about seven leagues S.W. of
Madeira.
August 26. — Though the wind continued from
the east, its siroc qualities had left it, to our great
relief, and this proved a cool, pleasant day, with
little or no motion. This change brought General
Bonaparte out of his cabin earlier than usual, and
he appeared in better health than he had been for
some days. Having been on shore, he asked me
what number of priests and churches there were
at Funchal, and if there was any theatre. After
dinner he walked a considerable time with the
admiral, talking generally of the affairs of Europe,
and, among other things, he told the admiral he
had observed in some of the French papers
brought from Guernsey that the King of Prussia
was about to change the nature of his govern-
ment, and to admit a national representation in it,
which he foretold would produce the greatest
difficulties both to the King of Prussia and the
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 167
Emperor of Austria. 1 He said he knew there
were many revolutionary spirits in both those
countries, and that the nations of the Continent
were not adapted for a representative government
like England. On the admiral's remarking that
he had, however, adopted it in the constitution
which he had himself established in France, he
acknowledged he had done so, but added that it
was not because he considered it a wise measure
for the nation, but because his situation at the
moment required him to yield this point to the
popular feeling, and it being, he said, at the time
his particular interest to substantiate any innova-
tions, and, in short, whatever differed essentially
from the old system of government, thereby to
render more difficult the restoration of the former
order of things, and therewith the dynasty of the
Bourbons. He went again over the old ground
of the military bias of the French nation, and the
impolicy of exasperating the French people. He
spoke much of their determined aversion to the
Bourbons, which he said could not but be
materially increased by the idea of that family
being again put in possession of the government
by means of foreign troops, who had carried ruin
and devastation into the greater part of the
1 This rumour proved to be incorrect. — J. H. R.
r68 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
country. Therefore he was quite sure the
troubles of France were by no means at an end ;
they might be said to be smothered for the
moment by terror, and by the presence of the
allied troops, but if these forces withdrew from
the country whilst the recollection of recent
events remained fresh in the minds of the people,
he averred that a general insurrection in France
would take place immediately, and it would cause
much difficulty and bloodshed ere it could be
again suppressed. In the course of conversation
he mentioned that he had left his brother Jerome
at Paris, who had determined to remain there in
disguise for some time until he saw the turn affairs
were likely to take ; he added that he did not
know what had become of him (Jerome) after-
ward, as of course he had not been able to hear
from him since. 1 After his walk with the admiral
he went into the after cabin, and before we had
formed our card-party he retired to his sleeping-
cabin. Our latitude and longitude this day at
noon were 30 53' N. and ij° 22' W.
August 27. — General Bonaparte walked some
time with the admiral, during which he mentioned
1 Jerome Bonaparte, after Waterloo, retired to Wurtemberg
with his consort, a princess of that kingdom. He was for
some time kept under some measure of constraint. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 169
his having expended .£3,000,000 sterling in the
improvements at Cherbourg ; that he had con-
structed there a basin, or rather a kind of inner
harbour (as it was without gates), which could
contain thirty sail of the line, and had fifty feet of
depth at low water. The outer road, which he
said was now perfectly safe in all winds, would
also contain thirty sail of the line more. He had
arranged everything for building ships there, and,
in short, for making it a naval port of the first
rank, and he added that he conceived such an
establishment so situated would have caused us
much difficulty with regard to our possessions of
Jersey and Guernsey. The only thing he dreaded
relative to this establishment, and which he was
therefore taking every precaution to avert, was
our getting momentary possession of the place by
a coup de main at any favourable juncture, in
which case he was aware that a few barrels of
gunpowder scientifically placed might destroy in
an instant what had cost so much time, expense,
and labour to complete. This evening he played
until about nine, and then retired to his cabin.
To-day at noon we were about four leagues west
of Gomera, with a fresh breeze from the north-
east, running between the islands at the rate of
about eleven miles an hour.
170 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
August 28. — Our north-east wind continued,
but not so fresh as yesterday. The weather
became hot, the thermometer being from 78 to
8o°- General Bonaparte was particularly serious
the whole of the day, and General Bertrand was
very much out of sorts, in consequence of the
admiral having refused to allow lights to be burnt
in the sleeping-cabins all night. In the evening
Bonaparte played at whist for a short time, and
that very badly, and then retired to his sleeping-
cabin. Our latitude and longitude this day at
noon were 24 23' N. and 20 23' W.
August 29. — We had moderate weather, with
much swell. General Bonaparte complained
much of the heat, and sat in his sleeping-cabin
en chemise with the door open, reading till about
two o'clock, when he made his toilet, and then
came into the after cabin, where he played at
chess until dinner-time. Of late he has taken no
exercise excepting a short walk after dinner, and
even during this walk he generally leans half his
time against one or other of the guns. In the
evening he did not join the card-party, but played
at chess with General Montholon. Our latitude
and longitude this day at noon were 24 23' N.
and 20 23' W.
August 30. — We had a fresh trade-wind, with
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 171
disagreeable weather and heavy swell, which
caused the ship to roll considerably. General
Bonaparte seemed to suffer much from these
causes ; he ate very little, seemed disinclined to
enter into conversation, and, after being a short
time on deck after dinner, he retired to his own
cabin without playing either at cards or chess.
Our latitude and longitude this day at noon were
22 27' N. and 22 12' W.
August 31. — The fresh trade- wind and swell
continued. The general, however, appeared
better, though the rolling of the ship seemed still
to affect him. In conversation with the admiral
he mentioned that when his army in Egypt was
seriously visited by the plague, the soldiers, and
indeed the officers, became so disheartened that
as general-in-chief he found .it absolutely part
of his duty to endeavour to give them con-
fidence and reanimate them by visiting frequently
the hospitals, and talking to and cheering the
different patients. He said he caught the dis-
order himself, but recovered again quickly. 1 This
evening Bonaparte played chess, and was in
very good spirits. Our latitude and longitude
to-day at noon were 19 55' N. and 25 43' W.
1 It is more than doubtful whether Bonaparte had the
plague even in its lightest form. — J. H. R.
172 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
September i. — We had a fresh trade- wind,
accompanied with uncommonly thick weather,
which prevented our making the island of St.
Antonio as soon as was expected ; but just as the
sun set we found ourselves close to the south-
west end of it, not having been able previously
to discern any part. We brought to, with the
intention of communicating with the islands in
the morning, and of waiting for the Peruvian and
Zenobia, which had been sent ahead to recon-
noitre, and to search for a convenient watering-
place. During this forenoon Bonaparte asked
many questions relative to the Cape de Verde
Islands. He also made some minute inquiries at
dinner relative to the nature and cause of the Gulf
Stream. This evening he played a rubber at
whist, and then retired to his sleeping-cabin.
Our latitude and longitude to-day at noon were
17 45' N. and 25 4' W.
September 2. — During the night it blew a
heavy gale of wind, and our party were much
alarmed. Soon after daylight the wind veered
from north-east to east and from east to south-
east and south, still blowing so hard as to render
it impracticable to communicate with the islands.
About noon the two brigs rejoined without
having been able to procure anything what-
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 173
ever, and giving an unfavourable report as to
any chance of procuring water. We made sail
to the southward and westward, the squadron
being put to short allowance of water. General
Bonaparte, in spite of the weather, made his
appearance at dinner ; but owing to the motion,
he did not seem to enjoy himself, entering very
little into conversation. This evening we played
a short time at piquet. This day at noon we
were about seven leagues off the south-west end
of St. Antonio. Our latitude was 17 6' N.
September 3. — The wind continued to the
north-east, and became light, baffling, and calm,
with very hot weather, the thermometer being
from 82 to 83 throughout the day. Bonaparte
complained much of the heat. To-day, in talking
over the affairs of France, amongst other things
he said that after his arrival at Paris from Elba
he had received assurances from the King of
Spain, and from the Portuguese, that whatever
appearances they might be forced to make, he
might depend on their not taking any active
offensive part against him. 1 Bonaparte played
cards this evening for about an hour, and then
1 Spain in 1815 joined the coalition of the Powers against
Napoleon almost at once, and prepared to send an army
to invade France. — J. H. R.
174 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
retired to his cabin. Latitude and longitude this
day at noon, i6° 15' N. 20 30' W.
September 4. — Fine weather, with a moderate
breeze from the north-east. General Bonaparte
made his appearance in the after cabin earlier
than usual, where he amused himself at chess
until dinner-time. He was very cheerful at
dinner, and after it he walked for a considerable
time with the admiral, during which he related
the Jaffa poisoning story, his statement of which
was that, finding himself compelled to evacuate
Jaffa, and leave it to be taken possession of by
the troops of Djezza Pacha (whose cruelty of
character was well known, and who invariably
mutilated in the most barbarous manner such
prisoners as fell into their hands), he ordered off
before him all the sick of the army which could
be moved, to facilitate which he even lent his
own horses. 1 When the chief surgeon repre-
sented to him that there were a few Frenchmen
in such an advanced state of the plague that
there did not remain even a probability of their
recovering, and that the attempting to move
them with the rest would endanger the whole
1 After leaving Acre, and again after Jaffa, Bonaparte
proceeded some way on foot so as to hasten the progress of
the convoy of wounded. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 175
army, Bonaparte, well knowing that if these
unfortunate wretches fell into the hands of
Djezza Pacha every possible cruelty would be
practised on them in their last moments, asked
the physician whether under the existing circum-
stances it would not be an act of charity to
accelerate their death by opium ; and on the
physician declaring he did not feel himself
justified in adopting this proposed measure, he
(General Bonaparte) ordered a council of all
the medical men in the army to be assembled,
to ascertain, in the first place, whether the
removal of these people or of any of them
might be effected without endangering in an
unwarrantable degree the remainder of the
army, and whether there existed any chance of
adequate benefit accruing to them if their
removal should be attempted. In the next
place, if the council agreed on the absolute
necessity of leaving some behind, then to con-
sider whether it would not be better for the
individuals themselves to relieve them of their
sufferings by administering opium, rather than
to leave them in the state they were to be tor-
mented in their last moments by the cruelty of
their implacable enemies, into whose hands they
would inevitably be doomed to fall. He said this
176 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
council was public, everybody knew what passed
in it, and he therefore had been surprised at the
many contradictory and ridiculous stories which
he knew had got abroad respecting this transac-
tion. He added that after this medical council
had finished their deliberations, they reported to
him it was their decided and unanimous opinion
that these people ought not on any account to be
removed, and that although they were of opinion
there did not exist a possibility of their recovery,
yet the majority of the council could not bear the
idea of adopting such a measure as accelerating
the death of an individual under their charge,
however desperate his case might be ; but they
further stated that they had every reason to
believe all difficulties on this head would cease
by the natural consequences of the disease under
which these poor fellows laboured, if the general
could so arrange as to retain the place forty-eight
hours longer, at the expiration of which time they
considered it scarcely possible that one of them
could remain alive. On receiving this report,
Bonaparte instantly determined on retaining
Jaffa the time specified by the council, and he
continued in it himself with the whole army
twenty-four hours, and then left a strong rear-
guard to hold it the other twenty-four hours, at
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 177
the expiration of which time, he said, the predic-
tion of the council was pretty well verified by the
death of almost every one of the patients in ques-
tion, and that the two or three who were left were
in the very last possible stage. (This latter part
of the statement was corroborated by Captain
Beattie of the marines, serving on board the
Northumberland, who at that time belonged to
the Theseus, and who was one of the first who
entered Jaffa after the French had quitted it, and
even before the troops of Djezza Pacha. He
states there were only three or four Frenchmen
found alive in Jaffa, and those in the last stage of
the plague. Captain Beattie also states that he
heard nothing of the Jaffa poisoning story until
he returned to England. 1 ) Bonaparte further
stated that he considered the measure he wished
to have adopted as being more worthy of praise
than the contrary, and said that had he been one
of those afflicted, he should have considered it the
greatest act of kindness to be so dealt with, rather
1 Sir Sidney Smith, on landing at Jaffa, found seven
of the French plague-stricken still alive in hospital. The
story about the giving the sick at Jaffa an overdose of opium
seems to have originated with Miot, a commissary of the
French army. Sir Robert Wilson afterwards repeated it.
The French physician with the expedition, Larrey, refuted
it.— J. H. R.
178 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
than to be left to be tormented by the wanton
savages of Djezza Pacha's army. Such is the
statement from this man of the Jaffa story, which
has caused so much talk. Bonaparte walked
this evening much later than usual, and retired
at once to his own cabin. Our latitude and
longitude to-day at noon were 15 34' N. and
26° 36' W.
September 5. — We had light winds with exceed-
ing hot weather. Among other conversation to-
day, Bonaparte recounted to the admiral the
following particulars of what passed between
him and the Queen of Prussia at Tilsit, when
(to solicit that Magdebourg might be left to
Prussia) she joined the royal party there. He
stated that had she arrived sooner, it is probable
she would have gained her point in this particu-
lar, not only by reason of the great advantage an
extremely clever and fine woman of high rank
must always have when personally urging any
suit she has much at heart, but also from the
inclination he (Bonaparte) then had to meet as
far as he conveniently could the wishes of the
Emperor Alexander, who, he did not hesitate in
affirming, was at the time a strongly attached and
much-favoured admirer of her Prussian Majesty.
It was, he said, owing to the King of Prussia
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 179
being apprised of this latter circumstance, and
consequently being extremely jealous of the
Emperor of Russia, that the former prevented
the queen from coming sooner to Tilsit ; and
not until the Prussian ministers, toward the
closing of the arrangements, urged him in the
strongest manner to send for her, that they
might have the benefit of her abilities and
influence to second their endeavours to obtain
better terms for Prussia, to which the king at
last consented. When she arrived, the whole
party being to dine with him (Bonaparte), she
was introduced before dinner, and entered with
great vivacity and ability on the subject of the
approaching treaty, and strongly solicited as a
personal favour to herself that he would consent
to leaving Magdebourg to Prussia, which she
said would bind her family to him by the
strongest ties of gratitude and respect. 1 Bona-
parte said her Majesty pressed her suit warmly
and cleverly, but he merely replied to all she
said in general terms of civility, and avoided
giving her any decided answer, or entering at
1 By the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit (July 7, 1807),
Prussia ceded her lands west of the River Elba (including
Magdeburg) to the new Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled over
by Jerome Bonaparte. — J. H. R.
180 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
all with her into the merits of the question,
notwithstanding which it was evident by her
behaviour at dinner that she entertained san-
guine hopes of succeeding. He said she sat
between the Emperor of Russia and himself,
and although most elegant and amiable in her
manners, she did not for a moment lose sight
of the object she had in view. At the dessert,
on his offering her a rose he took out of a vase
near him, she on taking it asked if she might
consider it as a token of friendship and of his
having acceded to her request. Being, how-
ever, he said, upon his guard, and resolved not
to be thus caught by surprise, he parried this
attack with some general remarks respecting the
light in which alone civilities of this description
should be regarded, and then he turned the
conversation.
Notwithstanding this, however, and his having
been extremely cautious throughout the evening
not to allow anything to escape which might in
the slightest degree authorise the queen to
believe him inclined to yield to her solicitation,
yet when she went away she appeared to be
well satisfied and to have persuaded herself
that her endeavours were not to prove unsuc-
cessful. Bonaparte said that, thinking it would
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 181
be therefore impolitic to leave the question any
longer open for discussion, he caused the treaty
to be signed at once on the next morning, and, of
course, without any alterations in it in favour
of Prussia. When the queen came the next
day to dinner, he said she evidently showed her-
self piqued and much hurt, but she behaved
with great dignity, and did not once allude to
the treaty, nor to anything which had passed
respecting it, until going away, when, as Bona-
parte was handing her to her carriage, she
mentioned to him how much he had disappointed
her by the refusal of her request, and that had
he complied, it would have attached the whole
family to him for ever, and so forth ; to which he
only answered that he should ever consider it as
one of the greatest misfortunes of his life that
it had not been within his power to obey her
Majesty's commands in this affair, begging her,
however, to believe it would always afford him
the highest gratification to be able to meet any
wish of hers, and adding more civil speeches of
this kind (saying, with a self-applauding smile),
" Mais tout cela n'dtait pas Magdebourg ") ; and
having reached the carriage, he put her into it,
bid her good-night, and left her. He added that
previous, however, to her driving off, she sent for
i8 2 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Duroc (the grand marechal of the palace) to her
carriage, when, giving vent to her feelings, which
she had till then stifled, she could not refrain from
tears whilst complaining to him of her great
disappointment, saying how much she had been
deceived in Bonaparte's character, and hurt by
what had passed. Early the next morning he
said he received a message from her to say that,
being taken suddenly ill, she had been compelled
to quit Tilsit and return home ; and thus, he said,
Magdebourg was retained, though perhaps he
had suffered somewhat by it in the good graces
of her Prussian Majesty. He said he thought
her a most elegant, engaging woman, and as
handsome as could be expected for thirty-five
years of age. He spoke, however, very badly
of her character as a wife, and particularly with
reference to the Emperor Alexander, to oblige
whom he mentioned (laughing heartily as he did
so) that he detained the King of Prussia a whole
day by announcing an intention of paying him a
formal visit, of which the Emperor Alexander
took a premeditated advantage by setting off to
obtain thereby an uninterrupted tUe-ct-Ute with
the queen. 1 Bonaparte played cards this evening
for about an hour, and retired to his own cabin.
1 There is no truth in these malicious insinuations. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 183
Our latitude and longitude to-day at noon were
1 3 58' N. and 25 30' W.
September 6. — The trade-wind continued until
about four in the afternoon, when we had ex-
cessive heavy rain. Bonaparte, who was in very
good spirits, had no sooner eaten his dinner than,
to the surprise of all, he got up to take his usual
walk on deck, notwithstanding it was still pouring
with rain ; and on the admiral remarking to him
the same, and advising him not to go out, he
treated it lightly, and said the rain would not hurt
him more than the sailors whom he saw on deck
catching the rain and running about in it. The
admiral no longer opposed him, and out he went,
accompanied by Bertrand and Las Cases, who
though obliged to attend him, seemed by no
means to enjoy the idea of the wetting they were
doomed to undergo. It required but a short
time to obtain a complete soaking, which the trio
did, and Bonaparte then retired to his own cabin,
from which he did not make his appearance during
the evening. Our latitude and longitude at noon
were 12 41' N. and 23 55' W.
September 7 and 8. — We had moderate weather,
with occasional showers, which kept the air cool.
Nothing occurred worthy of remark. Our latitude
and longitude at noon on the seventh were 12 2'
1 84 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
N. and 22 59' W. Fine weather with south-
south-west winds. Bonaparte, in conversing with
the admiral to-day, mentioned many of the leading
characters in England. He stated particularly the
high respect he entertained for the character of
the late Lord Cornwallis, whose manners and
behaviour at Amiens he spoke of as being most
noble and honourable to himself and the country. 1
He spoke in equal terms of panegyric of Mr.
Fox, with whom he said he had had much con-
versation when he was in France. 2 He said he
had formed a great friendship for Captain Ussher,
who had conveyed him to Elba, and added that
he had hoped to have seen him at Paris ; that he
had confidently looked for a visit from him there,
and was much disappointed at his not coming to
see him in his prosperity, as he had commenced
an acquaintance with him in his adversity. He
1 On March 24, 1802, Cornwallis promised the French
plenipotentiary at Amiens, Joseph Bonaparte, to sign the
treaty as it then stood. He then received contrary instructions
from Downing Street, but signed the treaty with France on
March 25, as he felt himself bound by his promise of the
night before. — J. H. R.
3 Fox was presented to the First Consul at the Tuileries
in September, 1802, during the Peace of Amiens. The Whig
orator was not favourably impressed by him. See " Memoirs
of Charles James Fox," by J. B. Trotter, chap, xii.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 185
spoke of many others, but not by any means in a
flattering strain. This evening he amused himself
by playing at whist, and retired at his usual hour.
Our latitude and longitude this day at noon were
1 1° 43' N. and 22 47' W.
September 9. — The south-south-west wind con-
tinued, with moderate and cool weather. Bona-
parte spent his forenoon in playing at chess. In
the evening he told the admiral that whilst he
was at Paris he gained possession of a corre-
spondence for a foreign royal personage of high
consideration in England, which spoke in very
disrespectful terms of different branches of our
royal family ; that he (Bonaparte) had been on
the point of publishing these letters in the
Moniteur, but had desisted, or rather recalled
them from the publisher, at the earnest inter-
cession of, and from consideration of, the person
by whose means he obtained them. 1 Bonaparte
played this evening again at whist, and seems to
have neglected his favourite game of vingt-un.
Our latitude and longitude at noon were 1 1° 24' N.
and 21 37' W.
September 10 and 1 1. — We had continued fine,
1 These letters probably referred to the Prince Regent and
his consort, afterwards Queen Caroline; her doings already
caused much scandal. — J. H. R.
1 86 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGE
pleasant weather. Bonaparte to-day in his con-
versation merely asked general questions as to
the progress we had made in our voyage, and the
probable time of the duration of it, the distance
we were from the coast of Africa, and what was
the nearest part. In the evening he played at
cards, and retired at his usual hour. Our latitude
and longitude to-day at noon were io° 1 1' N. and
20° 56' W.
We advanced pleasantly on our voyage. Bona-
parte, in conversation to-day with the admiral re-
specting England, said that had he succeeded in
his attempt of invasion, and had reached London,
his chief object and first endeavour would have
been to have there concluded a peace, which he
said should have immediately been offered on
" moderate terms " ; but what under those circum-
stances he would have considered moderate terms,
the admiral could not draw from him. He, how-
ever, stated the relinquishment of the right of
maritime visitation of neutrals as one of the points
he would have insisted on. 1 In the evening, when
we had assembled at the card-table, he took up a
small book of Persian tales, with which he amused
1 It is well known that Bonaparte determined to have the
chief British Colonial possessions, especially in the East
Indies and North America, along with Malta. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 187
himself in reading aloud to the company, making
his comments on these tales, and laughing heartily
at many parts of them. He reads very distinctly,
much slower than he speaks, and with good
emphasis ; but in conversation at times it is
difficult to follow him, from the quick manner in
which he utters with a peculiar pronunciation.
After reading for about two hours, and some
commonplace conversation, he retired to his own
cabin. Our latitude and longitude to-day at noon
were 8° 48' N. and 19 39' W.
September 12. — We had a continuation of fine
and pleasant weather. Having caught a shark
to-day, Bonaparte, with the eagerness of a school-
boy, scrambled on the poop to see it. It was
' not a large one, not being more than twelve feet
long ; it, however, was sufficiently so to astonish
our French party. Our catching this shark was
the subject of conversation at dinner, when Bona-
parte asked what was the size of sharks in general,
as also that of whales, the nature of them, the
method of catching them, and other similar ques-
tions. In the evening we played at vingt-un for
about an hour, and Bonaparte retired about his
usual time. Our latitude and longitude to-day at
noon were 8° 2' N. and 18 i' W.
September 13. — We had moderate weather,
188 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
with south-south-west winds. Bonaparte made
his appearance in the after cabin and played at
piquet until dinner-time, during which he con-
versed relative to the Russian campaign, princi-
pally as to the force employed. After dinner he
walked a considerable time with the admiral, con-
versing on the same subject, whom he assured in
the strongest manner that the only objects he had
when he undertook the Russian expedition, and
all he should have asked had he been successful,
was the independence of Poland (to which nation
he intended leaving the free choice of their own
king, only recommending to them Poniatowski
as worthy of such distinction), and to make the
Emperor of Russia engage to join firmly in the
Continental system against commercial intercourse
of any sort with England, until its Government
should be brought to agree to what he termed the
" independence of the seas." Bonaparte, how-
ever, subsequently, when talking of Moscow, let
escape that he had procured there emissaries to
disperse throughout the country amongst the
Russian peasantry to bias them in his favour and
against their own Government, to explain to them
the miseries they suffered from the unjust state of
slavery in which they were kept, and to offer them
freedom and protection if they would seek it
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 189
through his means. He said he had received
many applications from different bodies of them ;
and had he been able to have maintained himself
in the country, he was quite certain he should
have had the mass of the population in his
favour. 1 He walked a considerable time this
evening, and then adjourned to the after cabin,
where he amused himself by playing at cards
until near ten o'clock, when he retired. Latitude
and longitude this day at noon were 7 33' N.
and 1 7 15' W.
September 14. — We had moderate, pleasant
weather. Bonaparte passed this forenoon as
usual. In the evening, talking with the admiral
relative to Russia, he said that prior to the death
of the Emperor Paul he (Bonaparte), while he
was first consul, had received seven or eight
letters written in his Imperial Majesty's own
hand, pressing him to enter into close and inti-
mate alliance for the express purpose of exerting
the united efforts of the two countries to humble
Great Britain ; and the emperor proposed, if
Bonaparte approved of it, to send off at once a
large Russian army to act against the English
1 This is misleading. His proposals had scarcely any
influence on the Russians, though the Poles and Lithuanians
supported him. — J. H. R.
i go NAPOLEON 'S LAST VOYAGES
interest in India. 1 Bonaparte said he was about
to despatch a confidential ambassador with full
powers to make the necessary arrangements, and
to communicate to the emperor his sentiments on
these points, when he received the unwelcome
intelligence of the emperor's assassination. He
added that from the opinion the Emperor Paul
seemed by his letters to entertain of him (Bona-
parte), and from the great confidence he appeared
to place in him, he had no doubt, if their negotia-
tion had gone on, he would shortly have attained
sufficient ascendancy with the emperor to have
induced him to change the foolish and impolitic
course he was then pursuing in his own country,
in which case his life would probably have been
saved, and he might have become an ally of great
importance to the French ; and therefore Bona-
parte said he considered Paul's death at the
moment it took place as a particularly untoward
circumstance. This evening we played at whist
until Bonaparte retired. Our latitude and longi-
tude to-day at noon were J° 2' N. and 17 10' W.
September 15. — Fine weather, with westerly
winds. This day was passed as usual, with
1 A Russian force was about to start for the Persian frontier
when the assassination of the Czar Paul put an end to the
plan.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 191
nothing particular worthy of remark. The whole
of the squadron which left England, viz., North-
umberland of 74 guns (Captain Ross), Havannah
of 36 guns (Captain George Hamilton), Redpole
of 10 guns (Captain Denman), Peruvian of 18
guns (Captain White), Zenobia of 18 guns (Cap-
tain Dobree), Zephyr of 14 guns (Captain Rich),
Icarus of 10 guns (Captain Devon), Ferret of 10
guns (Captain Stirling), troop-ship Ceylon (Cap-
tain Hamilton), troop-ship Bucephalus (Captain
Westropp), were in company, and all perfectly
healthy. Latitude and longitude at noon, 6° 7' N.
and 1 6° 26' W.
September 16. — Fine weather. Bonaparte to-
day asked numerous questions relative to the
coast of Africa, and our distance from it. He
amused himself before dinner by playing chess.
In the evening, when talking with the admiral on
the propriety of the different capitals of Europe
being sufficiently fortified to enable them to with-
stand for a short time a sudden advance and
attack of an enemy's army, he said he had long
foreseen the propriety of having works of this
kind around Paris, but he had been restrained
from ordering them by his dread of the effect
it might have on the public opinion ; in concert
with which he had considered it a requisite policy
192 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
always to act, and which even in the zenith of his
power he had never felt himself strong enough to
disregard. He added that he knew full well the
French character to be such that until the danger
was at their gates they could not have borne the
idea of such a precaution being for a moment
necessary. This evening we changed the game
of cards from vingt-un to " speculation," which
became very noisy, and Bonaparte retired earlier
than usual. Our latitude and longitude this day
at noon were 5 6' N. and 15 29' W.
September 17. — Pleasant weather, with south-
west winds. To-day at dinner Bonaparte was
extremely chatty, and talked on the subject of his
meditated invasion of England. The admiral
asked him if he had procured any plans of our
fortifications at Chatham, when he replied he had
not, but that he had a general idea of the lines
there, and that he had no doubt of procuring in
time such further information on the subject as
was necessary for him ; he said he had obtained
his intelligence very regularly from England by
means of our smuggling boats, and that amongst
others Mr. Goldsmith (the editor) had conveyed
him much useful information. He said he had a
personal interview with Goldsmith at Boulogne,
at one of the periods he (Goldsmith) came over
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 193
in one of those smuggling boats. He added that
considerable sums of money had been paid to
him by the police at different times, for services
of this nature. He further observed that he
believed Goldsmith to possess talent, although a
most consummate rogue. 1 (This was uttered
with such an apparent malicious cunning as to
make those at table particularly notice it.) This
evening, after his usual walk, he joined the party
in the after cabin, but instead of playing at cards
he amused himself at chess until about ten, and
then retired. Our latitude and longitude this
day at noon were 4° 32' N. and 14 26' W.
September 18. — We had light winds. From
the dulness of the sailing of the troop-ships we
have daily been compelled to shorten sail, with
which Bonaparte has invariably found fault,
showing an apparent desire for the voyage to
end. His first question on making his appear-
ance is, "What is the latitude and longitude?"
then, "What progress have we made since
yesterday ? What distance are we from the
coast of Africa ? What port are we nearest to ?
How far are we from the line ? " and so forth.
1 L. Goldsmith was the author of the work "Secret History
of the Cabinet of Bonaparte'' (London, 18 10), an untrust-
worthy work. — J. H. R.
J 3
194 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
No particular conversation occurred to-day either
at dinner or in the evening. Our latitude and
longitude at noon were 3 55' N. and 12
56' W.
September 19. — Moderate weather. Bonaparte
to-day, in conversing again on his former medi-
tated invasions, speaking of Ireland, said he had
arranged everything with that country ; and if he
could have got safely over to it the force he
intended sending, the party there was so strong
in his favour that he had every reason to suppose
they would have succeeded in possessing them-
selves of the whole island. He said he had kept
up constant communication with the disaffected
party, which he averred was by no means con-
fined to the Roman Catholics, but had also a
very large proportion of Protestants. 1 He said
he invariably acquiesced in everything they
wished for, leaving all arrangements respecting
the country, religion, &c, entirely to themselves,
his grand and only object being to gain the
advantageous point for him of separating Ireland
from England. He said those who came to
1 Napoleon, on September 29, 1804, planned to send
18,000 troops from Brest to Ireland ; but the scheme came
to nothing. See " Life of Napoleon," by J. H. Rose, vol. i.
pp. 491-2, 505-6, 510-12.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 195
him from Ireland generally came and returned
through London, by which means he obtained
from them information respecting both countries ;
and they crossed the Channel backward and
forward with little risk or difficulty by means of
his friends the smugglers. But he added that
notwithstanding the great advantages he thus
derived from these smugglers, he found out at
last they played a similar game backward and
forward, and carried as much intelligence to
England as they brought to him from it, and
he was therefore obliged to forbid their being
any longer admitted at Dunkirk, or indeed any-
where but at Gravelines, where he established
particular regulations respecting them, and did
not allow them to pass a barrier which he caused
to be fixed for the purpose, and where he placed
a guard to watch them, and to prevent their
having unnecessary communication with the
country. He ordered the goods and other
articles they wished to have to be brought for
them to this barrier, for which they paid a small
additional impost. We played our usual game
at vingt-un this evening. Latitude and longitude
at noon were 3 17' N. and n° 18' W.
September 20. — We had south-west winds and
cool weather. Bonaparte made many inquiries
198 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
hundred napoleons was the least such a person
as the emperor could offer on so extraordinary
an event as his crossing the line. However, his
rhetoric had no avail in altering the admiral's
determination, and it ended by nothing being
given in the name of Bonaparte. His suite all
made their appearance at Neptune's bar, and
each made a present of a napoleon. Bonaparte
did not make his appearance until almost dinner-
time. During the dinner he was cheerful, talked
over the ceremony of shaving, and he did not
by his manner show that he was at all piqued
by the refusal Marshal Bertrand met with. In
the evening we played at vingt-un, and the
general retired at his usual hour. This day at
noon latitude o° 9/ S., and 3 36' [sic] W.
longitude.
September 24 and 25. — We had the wind from
the south-west, with a steady breeze, and the
weather remarkably cool. Nothing worthy of
remark occurred. Our French party show much
impatience at the confinement on board ship.
At noon latitude o° 40' S., longitude 2 22' W.
We had a heavy swell from the westward,
with cloudy, cool weather. To-day, in conver-
sation with the admiral, Bonaparte mentioned
that a short time back he caused a survey to
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 199
be taken of the grown oak throughout France
fit for ship-building — the report made to him on
which stated that there was actually sufficient
for building a thousand sail of the line ; but he
said France had failed altogether in trees fit for
masts, and these therefore they were obliged to
get from the Baltic. He said that understand-
ing the Corsican firs were strong and tough
enough to serve for masts during the two years
immediately after their being cut down (after
which time they lost their elasticity and became
brittle), and as plenty of them could be conveyed
to France at as little expense as from the Baltic,
he had endeavoured to bring them into use for
the French navy, authorising their being sawed
into planks after having served two years as
topmasts ; but this plan was not approved of
by the Marine Department, as there existed
extraordinary prejudice throughout the French
navy against masts made from any spars except
those brought from the Baltic. He said there
was a large quantity of masts belonging to
the French Government at Copenhagen when
Lord Nelson made the attack and consequent
convention there, and that at the time he was
alarmed for the safety of them ; but the Danes
kept their faith with him, and he afterward got
196 NAPOLEON S LAST VOYAGES
as to our progress, and our other French pas-
sengers showed much impatience at the length
of the voyage. Bonaparte neither walked nor
talked much to-day, and nothing occurred worthy
of particular remark. Our latitude and longitude
this day at noon were 2° 39' N. and 9 29' W.
September 21. — Cool and pleasant weather.
To-day we had very little of General Bona-
parte's company, as he was occupied all the
forenoon learning English from Count Las
Cases ; but as yet he has never attempted to
utter a word of English ; and although he has
been now six weeks on board, he cannot pro-
nounce one of our names at all correctly. In
the evening he played at whist, and retired
early. Our latitude and longitude to-day at
noon were i° 55' N. and 7 16' W.
September 22. — South-west winds and cool
weather. Bonaparte's conversation to-day was
confined to the ceremony of crossing the line.
He inquired of the admiral the nature of the
ceremony, and how it originated. His health
appears good, and he certainly looks better
than when he embarked on board the North-
umberland; his spirits are even, and he appears
perfectly unconcerned about his fate. This
evening he again played at whist. Our latitude
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 197
and longitude to-day at noon were o° 54' N.
and 5 22' W.
September 23. — We had a fine steady breeze,
and crossed the line a little before noon ; and
it is an occurrence worthy of remark that this
day we have passed zero of latitude and zero
of longitude, and the sun the zero of its decli-
nation. This morning, soon after breakfast, as
it was known we should cross the equator this
forenoon, Marechal Bertrand came and asked
if it was not customary for passengers of note
to make a handsome present to the sailors ;
and on my replying it was customary to make
presents, but not to any amount, he said the
emperor was no ordinary person, and therefore
the present ought to be no ordinary one ; and
he immediately went to the admiral and asked
if he had any objection to Bonaparte's sending
one or two hundred napoleons as a present to
the seamen, to which the admiral without hesi-
tation refused his consent, and indeed pointedly
prohibited it, saying it was the custom in a
manner to give a mere trifle, but if Bonaparte
was particularly anxious to make a present he
would allow five napoleons to be given, which
sum was the utmost he would allow. Marechal
Bertrand argued for some time, saying one
198 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
hundred napoleons was the least such a person
as the emperor could offer on so extraordinary
an event as his crossing the line. However, his
rhetoric had no avail in altering the admiral's
determination, and it ended by nothing being
given in the name of Bonaparte. His suite all
made their appearance at Neptune's bar, and
each made a present of a napoleon. Bonaparte
did not make his appearance until almost dinner-
time. During the dinner he was cheerful, talked
over the ceremony of shaving, and he did not
by his manner show that he was at all piqued
by the refusal Mardchal Bertrand met with. In
the evening we played at vingt-un, and the
general retired at his usual hour. This day at
noon latitude o° 9/ S., and 3 36' [sic] W.
longitude.
September 24 and 25. — We had the wind from
the south-west, with a steady breeze, and the
weather remarkably cool. Nothing worthy of
remark occurred. Our French party show much
impatience at the confinement on board ship.
At noon latitude o° 40' S., longitude 2 22' W.
We had a heavy swell from the westward,
with cloudy, cool weather. To-day, in conver-
sation with the admiral, Bonaparte mentioned
that a short time back he caused a survey to
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 199
be taken of the grown oak throughout France
fit for ship-building — the report made to him on
which stated that there was actually sufficient
for building a thousand sail of the line ; but he
said France had failed altogether in trees fit for
masts, and these therefore they were obliged to
get from the Baltic. He said that understand-
ing the Corsican firs were strong and tough
enough to serve for masts during the two years
immediately after their being cut down (after
which time they lost their elasticity and became
brittle), and as plenty of them could be conveyed
to France at as little expense as from the Baltic,
he had endeavoured to bring them into use for
the French navy, authorising their being sawed
into planks after having served two years as
topmasts ; but this plan was not approved of
by the Marine Department, as there existed
extraordinary prejudice throughout the French
navy against masts made from any spars except
those brought from the Baltic. He said there
was a large quantity of masts belonging to
the French Government at Copenhagen when
Lord Nelson made the attack and consequent
convention there, and that at the time he was
alarmed for the safety of them ; but the Danes
kept their faith with him, and he afterward got
zoo NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
them all safe to France, although he was com-
pelled to have them brought almost the whole
of the way by inland navigation, being much in
want of them, and the coast being too closely
watched by our cruisers to allow him to trust
them by sea. At noon this day, latitude i° 20'
S., and longitude i° 16' W.
September 26 and 27. — We had south-south-
west winds and pleasant, cool weather. Nothing
material occurred ; the troop-ships retard us con-
siderably, and their so doing is a great subject
of complaint with our French passengers. At
noon this day, latitude 2 4' S., and longitude
o° 20' W.
The cool, pleasant weather still continues, and
the troop-ships drop more and more astern.
Bonaparte for these last two days has been
less communicative, and has kept his cabin more
than usual ; he seems to have entirely given up
vingt-un of an evening, playing either chess or
piquet in lieu. His health appears very good,
and he says much of his time is occupied in
learning English ; however, it does not appear
that he makes any very great progress. This day
at noon we were in latitude 3 12' S., and longi-
tude o° 57' E.
September 28. — Our pleasant weather still
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 201
continues, with the wind from the south-west.
Bonaparte walked a short time both before and
after dinner ; nothing in his conversation was
worthy of any particular remark, as he confined
it to commonplace questions. In the evening
we played at vingt-un as usual, while Bonaparte
played at chess. At noon this day, latitude
4 68' [sic], and longitude 2 25' E.
September 29. — We had moderate and fine
weather. Bonaparte appeared in very good
spirits to-day, and asked various questions rela-
tive to the navy. After dinner he walked a
length of time with the admiral ; and speaking
of the navy of France, he said he believed
some of the superior officers were tolerable
good seamen, but that none of them were good
officers ; that the best of them had been taken
during the Revolution from the India and other
merchant vessels ; and as the French navy was
so little employed, the officers were unaccus-
tomed to command in any difficult or trying
circumstances, and therefore when they had
accidentally fallen into such situations they
always appeared to have lost their heads, be-
came quite confused, and whatever they did
was precisely what they ought not. He said
Admiral Gantheaume did very well whilst with
202 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
him (Bonaparte) at his elbow when coming
from Egypt; but he added, if Admiral Gan-
theaume had been left to himself, he would have
been taken twenty times over, for he constantly
wanted to change the ship's course to avoid
one enemy or other, and by such over-pre-
cautions he would have lost as much by night
as he gained by day. Bonaparte said he there-
fore obliged the admiral always to explain to
him upon paper the exact situation of the ship,
and the apprehended danger, after which it
almost always occurred that he took upon him-
self to desire the admiral to continue in a straight
course for Frejus, and to this alone he attributed
their having got safe. Bonaparte also said it
was a curious fact that Admiral Bruix, 1 on their
way up to Alexandria, had actually explained
to him very minutely the decided disadvantage
a fleet must labour under by receiving at anchor
an attack from an hostile fleet under sail ; and
yet from the want of recollection and presence
of mind upon emergencies which the general
had alluded to, their admiral a few weeks after
1 This should be "Brueys." Admiral Bruix remained in
French waters in 1798-9, and failed to carry out the instruc-
tions which might have led to the relief of Bonaparte in Egypt.
Brueys perished on the flagship L'Orient at the Battle of the
Nile.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 203
received at anchor Lord Nelson's attacks, losing
his own life, and nearly his whole fleet, to exem-
plify the correctness of his ideas and the impro-
priety of his conduct, but which Bonaparte said
he was positive would not have been the case
(inasmuch as relates to the fighting at anchor)
had he himself been on the spot. Bonaparte
added, on the same subject, that it struck him
the French admirals had generally on coming
to action lost too much time in making ma-
noeuvres about forming the line, which had ulti-
mately proved of no adequate advantage. He
had therefore desired they might be instructed
for the future, on approaching an enemy, that
a signal to form the line as convenient for
mutual support, and afterward a signal to engage
would be always deemed fully sufficient to make
to those under their orders ; and after this the
captain of every ship in the fleet was to be held
individually responsible to the Government for
getting the ship he commanded quickly into close
battle, and doing his best toward the destroying
of some one of the enemy, which would at all
events prevent the captains from covering their
own neglect, as Dumanoir had done, by at-
tributing "errors to their chief." 1 Bonaparte
1 See note, p. 144.
2o 4 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
said he had, however, latterly resolved (unless
some extraordinary emergency made it neces-
sary) not to venture any more line-of-battle ships
to sea until he should have had it in his power
to have sent from the different ports 150 sail
of the line at once, for the making up of which
number he had laid all his plans. He affirmed
that, from the efforts he intended to have made
for this object, he believed very much time would
not have elapsed before he would have completed
them ; in the meantime, he said, whatever it
might have cost him, he had determined on
always keeping ten sail of frigates at sea, for
the purpose of making and improving his officers.
He added that when his frigates had been sent
on distant voyages or cruises, they were apt to
consider their danger pretty well over when
once safely through our line of cruisers on the
French coast, after which they generally relaxed
in their vigilance and precautions. He had
therefore decided to order these ten frigates in
future to cruise only in the neighbourhood of
England or I'reland, where they would be certain
to have enemies, bad weather, and dangerous
coasts to keep them always on the alert ; and
those which managed to escape being wrecked
or captured, must of course in such situations
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 205
do much more mischief to our commerce than
had ever been done by the French frigates
before in the open seas and southern latitudes.
To the commanders of those who returned safe
from such service, he said he would have given
great promotion and rewards, and as fast as
he heard of any being taken or lost, he should
supply their place by fresh ones. 1 On the
admiral's remarking to him the difficulty he
conceived he would have found in obtaining
seamen to have followed up this plan, he replied
that by the conscription for the marines, which
he had lately established in all the maritime
departments of France, he would have had as
many seamen as he pleased ; its customary pro-
duction without vexation would have given him
20,000 men a year, and already, for want of
ships to put these seamen in, he had been
obliged to form them into regiments for the
protection of the coast. Admitting this, these
men would only have been seamen because he
chose to call them such. Bonaparte having
walked this evening longer than usual, he did
not join the vingt~un party, but retired early.
1 This proof of Napoleon's belief in the survival of the
fittest is interesting. For his guerre de course, adopted after
Trafalgar, see note, p. 63. See, too, pp. 124, 125. — J. H. R.
206 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Latitude 4 52' S., longitude 3 50' E., this day
at noon.
September 30. — We had light airs and fine
weather, with the wind to south-west. Bona-
parte amused himself this morning by having
the life of Lord Nelson read to him, and he
seemed to take particular interest in that part
relating to his trip to Egypt, and subsequent
battle of Aboukir Bay, the account of which he
has requested to have translated. This day at
noon we were in latitude 5 7' S., and longitude
5° 6' E.
October 1. — Our fine weather continued, with
south-west winds. Bonaparte was again occupied
the whole of the forenoon in listening to Bertrand
reading the life of Lord Nelson. At the table he
was cheerful, but confined his conversation to
merely asking questions. At noon, latitude
5 39' S., and 6° 26' E. longitude.
October 2. — The south-west winds still con-
tinued, and the troop-ships dropped further and
further astern ; nothing worthy of remark
occurred. Bonaparte seemed to have quite given
up the vingt-un party for chess, at which game
he does not appear to make much progress.
At noon this day our latitude 6° o' S., longitude
5° 50' E.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 207
October 3. — Fine weather. Bonaparte walked
for a short time before dinner, asking the distance
now remaining to St. Helena, and the probable
time of reaching it. At dinner he conversed
freely ; and speaking of his campaigns, he told the
admiral that at the battle of Wagram he had
under his command in the field, actually engaged,
a greater number of men than in any of his other
battles ; they amounted, he said, to about 180,000
bayonets, and at the same time he had in the
field 1,000 pieces of cannon. 1 At Moscow, he
said, though not much short of that number, he
certainly had not so many ; and at the battle of
Leipsic he did not think he had more than
1 40,000. 2 In answer to a question put to him
by the admiral, he said he considered General
Clausel to be decidedly the most able military
officer now in France. Mardchal Soult and other
of the marshals were, he said, brave and able
men for carrying into execution operations
previously planned ; but to plan and execute
1 These numbers are slightly in excess of those actually
engaged. Marshal Marmont states in his Memoirs that he
saw the returns of the French army at Wagram as 167,000
in all, that is including the cavalry and artillery. — J. H. R.
* At Leipzig, Napoleon had about 190,000 men and 734
guns ; but the allies had, in all, more than 300,000 men. —
J. H. R.
208 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
with large armies, in his opinion none of them
were by any means equal to General Clausel.
Bonaparte asked who were considered our best
generals, when Sir George Bingham having
mentioned Lord Lynedoch, Lord Niddry, Lord
Combermere, Lord Uxbridge, and others, Bona-
parte replied, " But I believe you think Lord
Wellington the best." Our evening was spent
similarly to the former ones. At noon this
day we were in latitude 6° 53' S., longitude
6° 40' E.
October 4. — Fine weather, with south-south-
west winds. The conversation of our passengers
was confined to the fine weather we have had,
and the probable speedy termination of the
voyage. Every one has hitherto enjoyed good
health except Madame Bertrand, whose com-
plaints have been more mental than bodily ; she
has, however, suffered of late so much as not
to be able to quit her cabin. The children
are remarkably healthy, and certainly much
improved by the voyage. Our latitude and
longitude to-day at noon were y° 50' S. and
7° 8' E.
October 5. — Our fine weather still continues,
and as our voyage shortens our squadron
diminishes, having now only the Peruvian,
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 209
Zenobia, and Bucephalus in company, the latter
scarcely in sight. Nothing particular occurred
to-day. Bonaparte played at piquet before
dinner, and chess after. This day at noon our
latitude 8° 50' S., longitude 8° 52' E.
October 6 and 7. — This day passed in the same
unvaried routine, as to wind, weather, conversa-
tion, and passing our time, as many other
previous days. Our latitude and longitude this
day were 9 35' S. and 9 32' E.
The wind still continues to the south-south-
west. The Bucephalus is no longer in sight, and
the admiral seems determined not to be further
delayed, therefore we may expect to reach St.
Helena in another week, which I hope may be
the case, as our passengers are becoming daily
more and more impatient. Our latitude and
longitude this day at noon were 9 30' S. and
9 50' E.
October 8. — We have been anxiously expecting
the south-east trade-wind, but hitherto without
avail. Bonaparte to-day walked and talked a
very considerable time with the admiral, giving
him a succinct account of his rise to the eminence
from which he is now fallen. Bonaparte said it
was owing to the want of officers at the beginning
of the revolutionary war that he was sent for
14
mo NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
(although then but a young captain of artillery)
from the northern frontier, where he was serving,
to take the command of the artillery before
Toulon ' ; that almost immediately after his arrival
at this station he had pointed out to General
Carteaux the necessity of making a great effort
to get possession of the place, which was called
Fort Mulgrave by us, which he (Bonaparte)
engaged to do if General Carteaux would allow
him, and foretold that that place once taken
would oblige the English immediately to entirely
evacuate Toulon. This proposal, however,
General Carteaux would not listen to, and they
therefore went on some time longer according to
their former plan of attack, without materially
advancing in the siege or doing any real good,
until one of the representatives of the people
coming to the army to overlook what they were
about (as was customary at that time), Bonaparte
directly laid before him his plans, and obtaining
his approval, Carteaux was overruled and obliged
to adopt the measures which Bonaparte had
1 A curious misstatement. Bonaparte, in August, 1793,
arrived with his family from Corsica ; he was soon told off
to serve in the " Army of Nice " ; but, owing to the lack
of officers and the Jacobin forces before Toulon, was detained
by the Commissioners Saliceti and Gasparin, and sent to take
part in that siege. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 211
before proposed to him, which succeeding pre-
cisely according to his predictions, he was in
reward promoted to the rank of general of
brigade. 1 He said he afterward went with a
part of the same army into Savoy, where he
rendered some further services ; but it having
been just then determined, in consequence of the
scarcity of officers for the infantry, to draft into it
some of the officers of artillery, and it falling to
his (General Bonaparte's) lot to be one of these,
he quitted the army and went to Paris to remon-
strate, and to endeavour to avoid being so
exchanged, but meeting with an unfavourable
reception from a general of artillery, who was a
representative of the people, and who had the
chief management of these arrangements. After
some high words passing between them, he
(Bonaparte) retired in disgust, and putting on
the dress of the Institute of Paris, to which he
then belonged (having been elected to it in
consequence of his proficiency in mathematics),
he continued in Paris, endeavouring to keep
quiet and from the armies, which he said, how-
ever, he should at last have been obliged to have
joined, perhaps in a subordinate capacity, had
not the advance of the Austrian general De Vins
1 See note, p. 56.
212 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
into Italy, and the retreat and alarm of the
French army opposed to him, spread considerable
consternation at Paris, which induced the Com-
mittee of Public Safety (who knew General
Bonaparte was well acquainted with the locality
of that country) to send for him to consult with
him on the best measures to be adopted ; * and
they were so satisfied with what he laid before
them on the subject, that they immediately
caused him to draw instructions for their general
in Italy, upon his (Bonaparte's) advice, and the
committee then directed that General Bonaparte
might remain near them in Paris to assist them
on such military points as they might wish to
consult him upon. The advice he gave, as before
mentioned, Bonaparte said proved efficacious ;
their Italian army took up the position he had
pointed out, and thereby was enabled to stand its
ground, without falling any farther back, in spite
1 De Vins occupied Savona in June, 1795, and the French
retreated to Loano. Bonaparte had drafted his first plan of
campaign for Italy at Colmars on May 21, 1794. The second
plan, or plans, belong to July, 1795. In August, Bonaparte
was appointed to a post in the Typographical Bureau of the
Committee of Public Safety. He did not, as here stated, hold
this post continuously up to 13 Vendemiare (1795); for he
was dismissed from the army and the public service on
September 15, 1795, owing to his having refused to go to
La Vendee as an infantry officer. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 213
of every effort of the Austrian general to force it,
until it became strong enough to attack in its turn,
which it ultimately did, and then defeated General
De Vins, and was most completely successful.
Bonaparte said he gained considerable credit on
this account, and he remained at Paris attached
to the Committee of Public Safety until the 13
Vendemiare, the day on which the Convention
was attacked by the revolted sections of Paris,
which last having gained considerable advantage
over the troops of the Convention, then under
the command of General Menou, Bonaparte was
sent for by the Convention, and placed in the
command of the troops in lieu of Menou ; 1 and
succeeding in defeating the revolted sections, and
in restoring order, he was immediately made
commandant of Paris, which situation, he said,
gave him considerable consequence, and in which
he remained until he was made commander-in-
chief of the army of Italy. He said it was not
until after the battle of Lodi that he entertained
an idea of ever being sufficiently in consequence
to authorise his some day or other interfering
with the government of France ; but then, find-
ing all his plans to succeed so very far beyond
1 Bonaparte was merely included among the generals placed
under the command of Barras. — J. H. R.
214 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
his own expectations, he began to look forward
(though without any decided plan) to such events
as afterward took place, and he said the quantity
of money which he sent from Italy to France
with these views very considerably increased his
popularity. After his campaign of Italy, and the
consequent suspension of hostilities with Austria,
he said the Directory became very jealous of his
popularity, and were therefore anxious to get him
into some scrape, to avoid which it required his
utmost caution and finesse ; and this induced him
not only to refuse an appointment offered him to
conduct the diplomatic discussions then going on
with Austria, but also the appointment (which
was soon afterward offered him) to command the
army for the invasion of England. 1 But when
the command of the Egyptian expedition was
proposed to him he immediately saw the advan-
tages it offered him for getting out of the way of
a jealous, arbitrary Government (by its measures
1 Incorrect. Bonaparte took diplomatic matters into his
own hands at the time of the signature of the Preliminaries
of Peace with Austria at Leoben (April 18, 1797), and kept
them in his hands until the conclusion of the treaty at Campo
Formio (October 17, 1797). He was appointed to command
the "Army of England," but reported in February, 1798, that
that expedition was impracticable. The Egyptian enterprise
at that time was his dearest wish. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 215
running itself to ruin), and by placing himself at
the head of an army for an expedition almost
certain of success, leaving it open to him to
return with increased popularity whenever he
might judge the crisis favourable. Therefore, he
said, the Directory being anxious to get him out
of France, and he being equally anxious to get
away from them, this Egyptian expedition did
not fail to please both parties, and he warmly
entered into it the moment it was proposed ; but
he declared the proposition of this expedition did
not originate with himself. 1 Having thus left
France, Bonaparte said he anxiously looked for
the events which brought him back to France ;
and on his return there, he was soon well assured
that there no longer existed in it a party strong
enough to oppose him, and he immediately
planned the revolution of the 18th Brumaire.
He said that although he might on that day
have run some personal risk, owing to the con-
fusion which was general, yet everything was
so arranged that it could not possibly have
failed, and that the government of France from
that day became inevitably and irretrievably
1 Magallon, Consul of France in Egypt, advocated the
expedition in a report received in February, 1798. Bonaparte
also pressed strongly for it. — J. H. R.
2i6 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
in his hands and of those of his adherents. 1 He
said, therefore, that all the stories and reports
which might have been circulated of any in-
tentions of arresting him, and of opposing his
intentions, were all nonsense, and without any
foundation in truth; for his plans had been too
long and too well laid to admit of being so
counteracted. He said that after he became first
consul, plots and conspiracies against his life
were very frequent, but by vigilance and good
fortune they had all been discovered and frus-
trated. He said that one which was the nearest
proving fatal to him was that in which Pichegru,
Georges, and Moreau were concerned — thirty-six
of this party had been actually in Paris six weeks
without the police knowing anything of it — and
which was at last discovered by an emigrant
apothecary, 2 who, being informed against, and
1 The coup d'itat of 19 Brumaire (November io), 1799,
would have failed but for the skill of Lucien Bonaparte,
who refused to put to the Council the motion of outlawry
against his brother. — J. H. R.
3 This apothecary was Querel, or Querelle, who was quite
possibly an agent of the police. He disclosed (we should now
say "disclosed" rather than "discovered") the news on February
14, 1804. It is certain that Napoleon, through his unofficial
police, that of Fouche, knew of the plot; for he wrote on
November 1, 1803, to his chief controller of police, that he
must not be in a hurry about making the arrests. — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 217
secured after landing from an English man-of-
war, and the police having entertained some
suspicions in consequence of the numbers which
had been reported to have landed clandestinely
about this time, it was judged this apothecary
would be a likely person to bring to confession, if
properly managed. Therefore, being condemned
to death, and every preparation made for his
execution, his life was offered him if he would
give any intelligence sufficiently important to
merit such indulgence, when the apothecary im-
mediately caught at the offer, and gave the names
of the thirty-six persons before alluded to, every
one of whom, with Pichegru and Georges, were,
by the vigorous measures adopted, found and
secured in Paris within a fortnight. Bonaparte
said (from what he afterward learnt) that previous
to this plot being discovered it would probably
have proved fatal to him, had not Georges insisted
upon being appointed a consul, which Moreau
and Pichegru would not hear of, and therefore
Georges and his party could not be brought to
act. 1 He said also that it was to be at hand for
the purpose of aiding in this conspiracy, and to
1 This is incorrect. Moreau withdrew from all connection
with Pichegru as soon as he knew that he was bound up
with Cadoudal.— J. H. R.
220 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
days have passed in one continued sameness.
Our latitude and longitude to-day at noon were
1 5 23' S. and 4 54' E.
Pleasant weather. Numerous were the con-
jectures whether or not we should see the land.
The admiral decided we should see it at six
o'clock, and so correct was he in his calculations
that the time we saw it did not differ a minute,
at which Bonaparte and all the French party
seemed much astonished. The Zenobia was
despatched to apprise the governor of our
approach, and we lay to for the night. Our
latitude and longitude at noon were 16 8' S.
and 5 57' E.
October 15. — We anchored about half-past ten,
and found here the Havannah, Icarus, and
Ferret, which had got the start of us. The
governor came on board, and the admiral
returned with him to determine on the spot for
Bonaparte's future abode. We amused ourselves
in surveying the stupendous barren cliffs of
St. Helena, whose terrific appearance seemed to
but ill accord with the feelings of our guests. In
the evening the admiral returned, having taken a
house in the town as a temporary residence for
Bonaparte and his followers.
October 16. — The admiral went on shore early
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 221
for the purpose of visiting Longwood House, to
see how far it would be able to accommodate our
guests. He returned early to dinner, and made
a favourable report of the situation of Longwood.
Marechal Bertrand went on shore in the after-
noon to arrange the lodging, but Bonaparte, at
his own particular request, delayed disembarking
until it was dark, to avoid the gaze of the inhabi-
tants, who were crowded on the wharf to see a
person who had heretofore kept nations in a
state of warfare and dread for nearly twenty
years. We landed about seven o'clock, and all
the French party were lodged at the boarding-
house taken for them at the lower end of the town. *
The next morning 2 at six o'clock Bonaparte
mounted on horseback, and, in company with the
admiral, visited Longwood House (the residence
of the lieutenant-governor, and belonging to the
Company), which had been previously fixed on
by the admiral and governor as the future resi-
dence of Bonaparte and his suite. Bonaparte
seemed very well satisfied with the situation,
1 We are informed that in the original manuscript the next
entry is not dated, but was evidently written in by the same
hand some months later, from notes taken at various times.
Napoleon landed at Jamestown, St. Helena, on October
17, 1815.— J. H. R.
2 That is, on October 18.— J. H. R.
222 NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
and expressed a desire to occupy it as soon as
possible. This house, however, requiring not
only repairing but considerable enlarging, which
would occupy much time, and the general men-
tioning his dislike to return to the town, the
admiral proposed his visiting the " Briars," a
small cottage (the residence of Mr. Balcombe),
which was near the Longwood Road, and about
a mile and a quarter from the town.
This proposition was immediately acquiesced
in by Bonaparte, and on reaching this cottage
he instantly expressed a wish to be allowed to
occupy a small detached building on an eminence
close to the cottage (built by Mr. Balcombe as
a dining-room), of about twenty-two feet by
sixteen, with a very small ante-room, and two
garrets overhead, until Longwood House might
be ready, stating there was quite room enough
for him. This request was immediately complied
with, and the admiral returned to the town by
himself, leaving Bonaparte in charge of Mr.
Balcombe's family. Bonaparte's camp-bed was
put up in this room without delay ; Count Las
Cases and his son occupied the two garrets over
it. After a few days a marquee was attached to
the front of this building and fitted up as a
dining-room ; and here Bonaparte passed the
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 223
first two months of his detention, without going
out of the grounds, except in one or two
instances. He seldom came out of his room
until the afternoon, when he amused himself by
walking in the garden (a very productive and
perfectly secluded spot, abounding with various
fruits, such as mangoes, apples, guavas, pome-
granates, oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, peaches,
&c), or reading in a small bower of vines, which
was lined for him with canvas to keep out the
rain, of which there was daily more or less. In
the evening he generally invited himself into the
cottage, and played cards with the family for two
or three hours. Mr. Balcombe's family consists
of himself (a truly good-natured and most hos-
pitable, liberal man of plain manners), Mrs.
Balcombe, two Miss Balcombes (women grown,
although the one is but fifteen and the other
between thirteen and fourteen), and two boys,
the one about seven and the other five years old.
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Balcombe understands
French, but both the Miss Balcombes speak it
tolerably well, and Bonaparte appeared much
delighted in their society. 1 These young ladies
1 For the Balcombes and their house, see Mrs. Abell
(Betsy Balcombe), " Recollections of the Emperor Napoleon
at St. Helena" (London, 1844); also Las Cases, "Memorial
de Ste. Helene," under date October 17 et.seq., 1815. — J. H. R.
224 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
in a few days became perfectly familiar, and the
general seemed highly pleased with their nawetd,
particularly that of the younger (a pretty girl,
and a most complete romp when out of sight of
her father). He occasionally so completely laid
aside his imperial dignity as to romp with these
young ladies, who during such diversions as
" Blindman's Bluff," &c, called him by the
familiar appellation of " Boney " ; indeed, the
younger, who appeared his favourite, said any-
thing and everything to him her lively imagina-
tion dictated, asking every possible question, and
he answering without the slightest apparent
reserve. About the middle of December, after
very great exertions of the admiral, with the aid
of the crew of the Northumberland, Longwood
House was sufficiently repaired, augmented, and
furnished for Bonaparte and all his followers,
with the exception of Marechal Bertrand, for
whom a small cottage near Longwood has been
hired, until some detached apartments are
erected within the grounds of Longwood as a
residence for him and Madame Bertrand.
Longwood House, of which a plan is annexed,
is nearly five miles from James Town. The
first three miles of the road are up-hill and
zigzag ; the other part is level, round a very
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST HELENA 225
deep and dreary looking ravine, which, con-
trasted with the entrance of the grounds, adds
much to their appearance, which is really that of
an English gentleman's country-seat. It is built
on the most level spot on the island, in a park of
about four miles in circumference. The house is
now made commodious and comfortable ; the
rooms are not large, but, including the servants'
rooms, there are more than forty in number,
as described in the accompanying plan, and
tolerably well furnished. The air at Longwood
is cooler than any other part of the island, the
thermometer seldom rising above 65 . It is
about 1,750 feet above the level of the sea, and
is surrounded by a very extensive plain, on
which the 53rd Regiment are encamped. The
grounds of Longwood are thickly planted with
an indigenous tree called gum-wood, which at a
distance has a pleasing appearance, but when in
the park the one continued sameness of a stunted
tree with dark green foliage is tiresome to the
eye. 1 From the house you have a commanding
view to the eastward of the sea and the shipping,
and to the northward the camp of the 53rd forms
1 Surgeon Henry, " Events of a Military Life " (chap, xxviii.),
gives a glowing account of the climate and shrubs, &c, of the
upper part of St. Helena. — J. H. R.
15
226 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
a pleasing object in the foreground to any one
except Bonaparte, who seems to loathe the sight
of a British soldier, and at whose particular
request great pains were taken to place the camp
out of his sight. But this could not be done
without giving up the very best situation for a
camp. Part of the park is cultivated as a farm
by the Company, and forms an agreeable varia-
tion. The grounds of Longwood are entirely
private to Bonaparte (with the exception of the
farmer and his labourers, who are confined to the
cultivated part).
Sentries are placed around the park to prevent
all intruders, and no one can enter without a pass
from the governor, the admiral, or the com-
mandant of the forces. Some distance without
the park there is a second cordon of pickets and
sentinels forming an enceinte of about twelve
miles, within any part of which Bonaparte or any
of his followers can amuse themselves by either
walking or riding, unaccompanied by any one,
but they cannot extend their excursions beyond
this boundary without being accompanied by an
English officer — if Bonaparte himself, by a
captain, for which purpose, and to superintend
the guard at Longwood Gate, and the sentries
placed around the house after dark, a captain of
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o tw h s ^
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 227
the 53rd has constantly lived in a room attached
to the house. A carriage, a phaeton, and twelve
horses have been furnished for Bonaparte's use,
and he frequently amuses himself both on horse-
back and in his carriage, but he has declared he
will not go without the boundary, so long as he
is restricted to be accompanied by an English
officer, to do away which he has used every
possible argument and endeavour with the
admiral, but to no avail. Bonaparte, on first
taking up his abode at Longwood, expressed a
great dislike to see soldiers near him, and carried
his weakness so far as to request that if it was
necessary to keep constant watch over him, the
sentries might not wear their uniforms ; • but in
this request he, of course, did not succeed.
However, to humour him, the admiral allowed
the officer of the guard, who lived in the house,
to wear plain clothes.
Bonaparte leads a secluded life, few or none
ever going near him, although no person of re-
spectability has been refused a pass when asked
for, but so little is he now thought of, that his
name is seldom or never mentioned except on
the arrival of a ship ; indeed, the inhabitants
express so little curiosity that two-thirds of them
have not yet seen him (although he has been at
228 NAPOLEONS LAST VOYAGES
St. Helena eight months), nor do they ever
seem inclined to go a hundred yards out of their
way for that purpose. Even Mrs. Wilkes, the
wife of the late governor, although she was six
months in the island after he arrived, went
away without seeing him, whereas the curiosity
of the passengers going home from India has
almost exceeded credibility.
He spends most of the forenoon in the house,
and gives out that he is occupied in writing his
life ; he breakfasts at eleven, and dines at seven.
At first he seemed determined to lead the life
of a gentleman and encourage society, for which
purpose he invited different people to dinner,
and attempted to imitate English manners, but
after the first fortnight he suddenly relinquished
this system, and ever since he has confined
himself to his abject followers, whom I may say
he tyrannises over, and whose servility is more
abject than an Englishman who has not witnessed
it can possibly conceive.
The rough sketch here placed of his person l
will give an idea of it. He is portrayed leaning
against one of the guns on the quarter-deck of
the Northumberland speaking earnestly to Mar6-
chal Bertrand. His countenance has something
1 This sketch does not accompany the manuscript.
\ymfw%wt^^i
<&&Zi*iSytff*?. * J -'^*«^ J i '^ -.
B DNEY"S medUatirmi onttw tiUnitrf^Helcna - - - -
lit DfcVlt adircjsin^ tfit-jSUN"- j.
HE FINEST OF GEORGE CRUICKSHANK S ST. HELENA CARICATURES.
Tojace pa%e -'-V.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 229
in it very remarkable, but nothing peculiarly
commanding, and this sketch flatters him both
as to age and appearance. He is 5 feet 7 J inches
high, stout made, and rather corpulent ; he has
a full, round, fattish face ; darkish-brown cropped
hair, thin on the forepart of the head, and always
dishevelled ; small eyebrows, very light gray
round eyes, rather large than otherwise; a nose
moderately long, inclined to aquiline ; mouth
small, with good small teeth ; chin rather fat,
turning upward, which gives a peculiar cast
of countenance ; sallow complexion, without
whiskers ; very short neck ; stout shoulders in-
clined to be round ; corpulent body, large hips
and thighs, with a well-formed leg and foot. His
age was forty- seven on the fifteenth of August
last. His health is perfectly good, although
he takes but very moderate exercise ; indeed,
it was a subject of surprise during the passage
out, as it is now, that from the life of inactivity
he led, and the quantity and description of food
he ate (and does eat), that his health should
continue so good as never to appear to suffer
the least inconvenience, or his vigour to be the
least impaired.
During the passage he constantly wore a low
cocked hat, with a small tricoloured cockade, a
230 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
green uniform coat trimmed with red, a pair of
large gold epaulets, the facing of the coat cut
away from the breast, and tapering to a point
behind ; I the collar buttoned close round the
throat, so as not to allow even the neck handker-
chief to be seen. On the left breast he wore a
large silver star of the order of the Legion of
Honour, and from the button-hole the order of
the Iron Crown, and a Dutch order ; under the
coat a broad red ribbon similar to the order of
the Bath ; white kerseymere breeches, silk stock-
ings, shoes and buckles.
He generally walks with one hand in his
breeches-pocket and the other in his coat-pocket.
He occasionally takes snuff in moderation from
an oblong box of dark green stone, lined with
gold, and set with four antique silver medals on
the top, and a small gold one in front. These
medals, Madame Bertrand told me, Bonaparte
himself found at Rome ; 2 the silver ones bear
the heads of Agrippa, Sylla, Pompey the Great,
and Julius Caesar, the gold that of Timoleon.
Since he has been on shore he has substituted
1 This was his favourite uniform, that of a colonel of the
Chasseurs of the Guard. — J. H. R.
2 This is more than doubtful. Napoleon never was at
Rome. See Madelin, "La Rome de Napoleon," p. 161. —
J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 231
a plain coat, with the star, for the uniform
one, and he wears military boots of a morn-
ing ; in other respects his dress continues the
same.
His character is difficult to be defined, but
from what I have seen, learned, and heard, I
think Miot, in his " Memoires de l'Expedition en
Egypte," gives a very accurate description of him
when he says : x
"He understands enough of mankind to dazzle
the weak, to dupe the vain, overawe the timid,
and to make the wicked his instruments, but of
all beyond this Bonaparte is grossly and totally
ignorant."
Greatness of mind or character, in my opinion,
he possesses not, very frequently acting the part
of a spoilt child. Feeling I consider him devoid
of. Every religion is alike to him, and did I
believe there existed such a being as an atheist,
I should say Bonaparte is that being. Of those
about him he seems neither to care nor feel for
the privations they undergo from their blind and
infatuated attachment to him, which many of his
actions prove, and which the following circum-
stance, which occurred during the passage out,
1 It should be remembered that Miot was very hostile to
Napoleon. — J. H. R.
232 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
will show. x Madame Bertrand had been confined
to her cabin by serious illness for ten days or a
fortnight. On her appearing in the cabin, we all
congratulated her on her recovery. This was in
the forenoon, and about two o'clock Bonaparte
came into the cabin, and sat down to play at
chess with General Montholon. At this time
Madame Bertrand was below, but soon after
made her appearance, seemingly to pay her
devoirs to this once great man. Putting on one
of her best smiles, she approached the table
where he was playing, and where she stood by
his side silent for some time, no doubt in anxious
expectation of receiving the Emperor's congratu-
lations, which would have amply repaid all
sufferings she had undergone. But in this, dis-
appointment alone was her portion, for he merely
stared her steadfastly in the face, and then con-
tinued his game of chess without taking the
slightest further notice. She, evidently piqued,
quitted the table and came over to the other side
of the cabin, where she sat by me on the sofa
until dinner was announced, when the admiral,
1 This estimate of Napoleon is not unlike that formed
by Colonel Basil Jackson, after seeing a good deal of the
Longwood household. See his " Notes and Reminiscences of
a Staff Officer," pp. 176-8.— J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 233
as he usually did, handed her to her seat. Even
sitting down at table he took not the slightest
notice of her, but began eating his dinner.
During the dinner, missing the bottle of claret
which usually stood before him, and Madame
Bertrand, ever watchful of his motions, having
handed him one which was near her, he very
condescendingly exclaimed, " Ah ! comment se
porte madame ? " and then very deliberately
continued his meal. This, and this alone, was
all the notice the long and serious illness of his
favourite drew forth. 1
April 15, 1816. — Lieutenant - General Sir
Hudson Lowe arrived in the Phaeton, and took
the command as Governor of St. Helena, to
whom Sir George Cockburn made over his
charge of Napoleon Bonaparte and all his
followers, and who immediately adopted every
measure which had been taken by Sir George
Cockburn for the safe custody of this personage,
and which are such as to render his escape next
to an impossibility. Sir H. Lowe brought out
permission for such of Bonaparte's followers to
return to Europe as might wish so to do, but
1 Mme. Bertrand was not liked by Napeleon, owing to
her spasmodic ways and her endeavour to dissuade Bertrand
from going to St. Helena. — J. H. R.
234 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
after some little hesitation they all signed a paper
declaring their determination to remain, Marshal
Bertrand inserting a saving clause for himself
and Madame Bertrand, expressing their wish to
remain only a twelvemonth. 1
June 17-19. — Rear-Admiral Sir Pulteney Mal-
colm arrived in the Newcastle as Sir George
Cockburn's successor, and all the necessary
documents having been made over to him as
naval commander-in-chief, on the afternoon of
the 19th we quitted St. Helena, after a residence
there of rather more than eight months, the latter
two of which were spent in anxious expectation
of our relief. 2 St. Helena, from its situation,
composition, and picturesque appearance, is per-
haps a place the most singular which navigation
has presented to the curious observance of man.
It is situated between the two tropics, in latitude
1 5 53' S. and longitude 5 43' W. The atmo-
sphere is temperate, with a continued southerly
breeze. The thermometer in the country seldom
exceeds 75 , or is seldom below 6o° Fahrenheit ;
in the valley it is generally from 70 to 80.
1 For Sir H. Lowe, see " Napoleon's Captivity in Relation to
Sir Hudson Lowe," by R. C. Seaton (London, 1904). — J. H. R.
2 For Sir P. Malcolm, see "A Diary of St. Helena (1816,
1817)," by Lady Malcolm (London, 1899). — J. H. R.
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 235
During our eight months' residence we experienced
very little variation, and had continued rains.
The climate is by no means so healthy as it is
generally described to be, the children being
sickly, and the adults suffering from the liver,
of which complaint many of our men died. 1
Nothing can possibly be less prepossessing,
nay, more horribly forbidding, than the first
appearance of this isolated and apparently burnt-
up barren rock, which promises neither refresh-
ment nor pleasure. To this terrific and dis-
gusting external appearance (causing a wonderful
contrast) I attribute in a great measure the many
flattering and flowery descriptions which have
been published of the interior beauties of this
island, none of which was realised in my ideas,
and it is contrast alone which in my opinion
makes the scenery agreeable, the whole of which
(having visited every part of the island) is far
too highly coloured in every publication I have
read. Some of the scenes I admit to be
picturesquely grand, and some spots to be highly
1 The high land around Longwood is far more healthy than
Jamestown ; so Surgeon Henry found by comparing the health
of the troops at the two stations. The health of the Boer
prisoners of war while at Deadwood (near Longwood) was
excellent.— J. H. R.
236 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
verdant, and to those who have spent the better
part of their lives in India a sojourn here for a
fortnight is certainly a relief. These may view
the scenery with rapture and delight, but the
residence of a month at St. Helena would be
tediously long to any one who has been
accustomed to live in Europe. This island is
about twenty-eight miles in circumference. James
Town (the only one in the island) is situated in
a deep valley of about a mile in length, the
houses are commodious, and have a clean appear-
ance. From Ladder Hill, which is about nine
hundred feet perpendicular, to the eastward the
coup cUceil of the town and anchorage is not only
unique, but to some terrific, as the immense over-
hanging rocks seem ready to escape from each
other, and crush everything below. The town,
and indeed most part of the island, is well
supplied with good spring water, one of the
principal sources of which is Diana's Peak, the
highest spot on the island, and which is computed
about two thousand six hundred feet above the
level of the sea. The interior of the island
abounds with vegetables of the best quality, and
the poultry is superior in flavour to any I have
ever met with. The inhabitants are friendly,
obliging, and much inclined to hospitality, but,
TAKING NAPOLEON TO ST. HELENA 237
owing to the generality of them marrying young,
and having large families, they have not in their
power to indulge therein. The ladies are lively,
agreeable, and many of them pretty, and, although
self-taught, are not devoid of accomplishments.
They are extremely domesticated, and it requires
a residence of some time to become intimately
acquainted with the different families. The
hospitality of Sir George Cockburn made him an
universal favourite, and his departure caused a
general regret, which was strongly testified on
the crowded beach as we embarked.
June 23. — The Bucephalus accompanied us to
Ascension, when we arrived on the morning of
the 23rd, having seen it the preceding evening.
This island was hitherto uninhabited, but since
the arrival of Bonaparte at St. Helena, it has
been taken possession of and garrisoned, to
prevent ships harbouring there to assist the pos-
sible escape thereby of Bonaparte, for which it is
well adapted, being situated directly to leeward
of St. Helena. Water has been found in the
interior, and near the spring some land has been
cultivated with success.
June 2^-August 3. — The Bucephalus sailed for
England, for which place we also sailed the
following morning. We made the Cape de Verde
238 NAPOLEON'S LAST VOYAGES
Islands on July 6, on the 20th the Western
Islands, and on the 3rd of August we arrived at
Spithead, thus completing twelve months on a
voyage which, from peculiarity of circumstances,
was far more interesting than any ever likely
again to occur, at least to
John R. Glover.
August 3, 18 16. — N.B. — As the foregoing
narrative was kept for my own gratification, and
that of my friends, and being particularly averse
that any part of it should get into print, I most
particularly request of those to whom I may lend
it, that they will on no account copy any part of
it, or allow any one so to do.
THE END.
INDEX
Aboukir Bay, Battle of, 206
Acre, 112, 174
Adams, H., 52
Africa, 186, 191, 193
Aix, 112
Ajaccio, 64
Alexander, 202
Alexander I., Czar, 37, 42, 151,
!&> IS3. 155. IS8, 178. 182
Alps, The, 57
America, 27, 59, 60, 104, 129,
130, 155
Amiens, Peace of, 50; town
of, 184
Anas, Bay of, 97
Ann, Grand Duchess, 152
Antwerp, 53, 62, 88
Arcis, 80
Arnano, no
Ascension Island, 237
Aube, 81
Augereau, General, 86
Austerlitz, The, 43
Austria, 87, 91, 142, 149, 151,
153, 214; Emperor of, 158,
167
Auxerre, 112
Azores, Islands of the, 95
B
Baden, Duke of, 218
Bailey, Lieutenant, 105, 106
Balcombe family, The, 222,
223, 224
Baltic, The, 199
Bardadoes, The, 95
Bareges, 105
Barras, General, 213
Bassano, Duke of, no
Bastia, 64
Baylen (Andalusia), 109
Beattie, Captain, 117
Beauharnais Eugene, 44, 153
Belgic Netherlands, The, 62
Bellerophon,The, 12, 14, 117, 118
Belliard, General, no
Bentinck, Lord William, 49,
157
Bernadotte, General, 103
Berry Head, Devon, 13
Bertrand, Madame, 13, 21, 115,
126, 137, 208, 224, 230, 232
233> 2 34
240
INDEX
Bertrand, Comte, 40, 41, 43,
4 6 > 47. 49. 5 2 > 69, 10, 77, 107,
108, 109, in, 112, 115, 118,
119, 126, 130, 132, 134, 135,
145, 161, 170, 183, 197, 198,
206, 221, 224, 228, 234
Berthier, General, 86
Bingham, Sir George, 115, 116,
121, 125, 128, 132, 137, 208
Blucher, General, 80, 81, 148
Bonaparte, Charles, 13
Bonaparte, Jerome, 168
Bonaparte, Joseph, 50, 184
Bonaparte, Louis, 59
Bonaparte, Lucien, 216
Bordeaux, 53
Borghese, Pauline, Princess
(Bonaparte), 99
Bouc, 61
Boulogne, 91, 94, 97, 98, 140,
192
Bourbons, The, 29, 53, 80, 150,
iS9, 167
Bourmont, General, 147
Brest, 59, 62, 91, 94, 95, 97, 98,
141, 194
Brienne, 64, 80, 11 1
Britain, Great, see England
British Army, no, 149, 158,
226
British East India Company,
88
Brueys, Admiral, 202
Bruix, Admiral, 202
Bucentaure, The, 91
Bucephalus, The, 116, 191, 209,
237
Biilow, General, 81, 103
Cadiz, 17, 92, 95, 97, 98, 141
Cadoudal, M., 217, 218
Calder, Sir Robert, 90, 96
Calvi, 64, 65
Cambronne, General, 101
Campbell, Colonel Neill, 12, 36,
38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 49,
52, 55, 68, 69, 77, 78, 84, 88,
107, 108, 109, no, in, 112;
Journal of, 73, 74, 77
Camperdown, Battle of, 44
Campo Formio, 214
Cape de Verde Islands, 237
Capraja, Isle of, 66
Caroline, Queen, 185
Carteaux, General, 210
Carthagena, 91
Castlereagh, Lord Viscount, 36,
42, 62, 86, 108, no
Cathcart, Viscount, 38
Catherine, Grand Duchess, 152
Ceylon, The, 116, 191
" Chapeau Rouge," Frejus, 40
Chaptal, M., 71, 73, 92
Charles of Spain, 132
Chatham, 141, 192
Chatillon-sur-Seine, 80
Cherbourg, 61, 169
Cintra, 54
Clam, Comte, 43, 49, 68, 71, 107
Clausel, General, 207, 208
Cliffe peninsula, 16
Cockburn, Sir George, Rear
Admiral, 15, 17, 115, 116,118,
119, 141, 233, 234, 237 ; diary
of, 20, 22
Coghlan, Captain, 65
INDEX
241
Collingwood, Lord, 97
Colmars, 212
Combermere, Lord, 208
Constant, M., Napoleon's valet,
"3
Copenhagen, 60, 199
Cornwallis, Lord Admiral, 96,
184
" Correspondence " of Na-
poleon, 16, 93, 94
Corsica, 49, 199, 210
Corunna, 96
Cosmao, Admiral, 143
Coulis, M., 113, 114
Courier, The, 27
Cromwell, 50
Curacoa, The, 77
D
Dalheme, General, 68, 77, 85
Danes, The, 199
David, M., 33
Daudet, E., 32
Denman, Captain, 191
Denmark, 60
Dennewitz, Battle of, 103
De Vins, Austrian General, 211,
213
Devon, Captain, 191
Dickens, Charles, 13
Directory, The, 214, 215
Djezza Pacha, 174, 178
Dobree, Captain, 191
Dominica, Island of, 93
Dover, Straits of, 91
Dresden, 61
Drouot, Comte, 43, 49, 68, 77,
90, 107
Dryade, French frigate, 39, 42,
104
Dumanoir, Admiral, 143, 203
Dunkirk, 195
Dupont, General, 109, 112
Duroc, Marechal, 182
Dutch Fleet, 91
E
Egypt, 33, 129, 157, 160, 161,
162, 171, 202, 206
Egyptian Expedition, 214, 215
Elba, Island of, 9, 12, 14, 36,
37, 4i. 49> 99. I0 4> *57, *73
Elbe, The, 17, 44, 59, 62
Emeriau, Admiral, 112
Enghien Due d', 19, 218, 219
England (Great Britain), 54, 87,
94, 102, 134, 139, 142, 150,
151, 163, 167, 188, 189, 204 ;
invasion of, 88-90, 186, 192,
194-214
Erfurth, 151, 158
Espoir, The, 27, 28
Essling, Prince of, see Massena
Essonne, 83
Eurolas, The, 117
Euryalus, The, 28, 29, 30, 31
Eylau, Battle of, 71
Falmouth, 128
Ferdinand of Spain, 133, 134
Ferrajo, Porto, 69, 74, 79
Ferret, The, 126, 191, 220
Ferrol, 94, 96, 97, 98, 142
Finisterre, Cape, 91, 97
Flahaut, Comte, 108
16
242
INDEX
Flushing, 55
Fontainebleau, 14, 37, 108, 113 ;
Treaty of, 42, 87
" Foreign Reminiscences," 51,
92
Fouche, M., 216
Fox, Mr., 184
France, 54, 85, 87, 88, 150, 163,
199, 214, 215, 318
Frejus, 14, 33, 39, 40, 44, 99,
113, 114, 202
French Navy, 63, 201-205
French people, 147, 150, 159,
168, 192
Funchal, 164, 166
Gasparin, Commissioner, 210
Gantheaume, Admiral, 96, 97,
141, 201, 202
Genoa, 49, 104
George III., 158
Georges, M., 216, 217
Gerard, General, 81
Germanowki, Baron, 107
Gibraltar, 54, 92
Glover, Mr. Secretary, 11, 115,
238 ; the manuscript diary
of, 20, 21, 238
Goldsmith, Mr. L., 143, 192, 193
Gomera Island, 169
Good Hope, Cape of, 138, 156
Gourdon, Rear Admiral, 96, 97
Gourgaud, General, 11, 12, 21,
11S, 119, 126, 128, 130, 132,
159
Gouvion St. Cyr, General, 103
Grandelina, Admiral, 96, 97
Gravelines, 195
Gravina, Admiral, 92, 97
Greatly, Captain, 117, 121
Grenoble, 145
Grouchy, General, 131, 147, 160
Guadaloupe, 93
Guernsey, Island of, 126, 169
H
Hamburg, 62
Hamilton, Captain, 162, 191
Harrison, Mr. Birge, 113
Hastings, Lieutenant, 35, 68
Havana, 92
Havannah, The, 126, 162, 164,
191, 220
Havre, 135
Henry, Surgeon, 225
Holland, 43, 59, 62, 88
Holland, Lord, 51, 62, 92
Hood, Lord, 56
Houssaye, M., 85
Icarus, The, 126, 191, 220
India, 95, 127, 190
Indies, East, 63, 93
Indies, West, 63, 89, 92, 95, 163
"Influence of Sea Power on
the French Revolution and
Empire," 54
Ireland, 44, 52, 90, 194, 195,
204
Italy, 17, 156, 212, 214
I
Jackson, Colonel Basil, 12, 232
Jacobins, The, 146
INDEX
243
Jaffa, 174, 176
Jamaica, Island of, 95
James, Mr., 93, 97
Jamestown (St. Helena), 221,
224, 235, 236
Jena, Battle of, 103
Jersey, Island of, 169
Jerusalem, 102
Josephine, The Empress, 152
153
Junot, General, 103
K
Keith, Lord, 117, 118, 137
Kent, 89
Kleber, General, 160, 161
Roller, Baron, 43, 46, 47, 49, 58,
63, 66, 69, 70, 73, 77, 107, 109,
no
Kolly, Baron de, 133, 134
" La Jeunesse de Napoleon," 65
Lallemand, Rear Admiral, 96,
97.98
Landor, 12
Larrey, M., 177
Las Cases, Comte, n, 20, 115,
119, 126, 130, 132, 183, 196,
222
" La Terreur Blanche," 32
La Vendee, 212
Leipsic, Battle of, 207
Leoben, 214
Ligny, Battle of, 148
Lithuanians, The, 189
Loano, 212
Locker, Mr., 77
Lodi, Battle of, 213
Lofft, Mr. Capel, 117
London, 16, 89, 186, 195
Longone, 77, 78, 79
Longwood House, n, 221,222,
224, 225, 227, 235
Lorient, 95
Louis XVIII., 68, 145, 146,
155
Louise of Prussia, 19, 178-182
Lowe, Sir Hudson, 233
Lynedoch, Lord, 208
Lyons, 53, 86, 112
Lyons, Gulf of, 27
M
Mack, General, 143
Macpherson, poet, 136
Madeira, Island of, 126, 128,
i35> 164
Madison, Mr., 129
Magallon, M., 215
Magdebourg, 178, 179, 182
Magon de Clos-Dore, Admiral,
96
Mahon, Captain, 54
Mainz (Mayence), 93
Maitland, Captain, 12, 119
Majestueux, The, 92
Malcolm, Lady, 12
Malcolm, Sir Pulteney, Rear
Admiral, 234
Malta, 51
Mansel, Captain, 162
Mantua, 44
Marie Louise, Empress, 61, 151,
iS7
244
INDEX
Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, 83,
84, 85, 86, 103, 207
Marseilles, 28, 30, 35, 36, 38, 39,
S3, 108, 112
Martinique, 92, 93, 95, 141
Massena, General, 103, 104
Mediterranean, 54
" Memorial de St. Helene,"
11
Menou, General, 161, 213
" Mes Souvenirs sur Napoleon,"
7i» 75. 92
Metternich, 16
Mexico, 60
Milan, 93 ; Decree of, 59
Miot de Melito, 16, 177, 231
Missiessy, Admiral, 92, 93, 95,
96
Montcabri, Comte de, 39, 42,
104
Montholon, General, 11, 20, 115,
119, 126, 129, 132, 164, 170,
232
Montholon, Madame, 13, 115,
126
Montmartre, 85
Moreau, M., 216, 217
Mortier, General, 85
Moscow, 1123, 124, 156, 188,
207
Mulgrave Fort (Toulon), 210
N
Nantes, 53
Napier, Captain Charles, 28, 29,
3i. 32. 39
Naples, Queen of, Marie Caro-
lina, 157
Napoleon —
Abdication of, 31, 33
America, on, 59, 60
American War, on the, 130
Amiens, on Peace of, 50-52
Appearance at St. Helena,
229
Arcis to Brienne, on march
from, 80-82
Augereau, on treachery of,
86
Balcombe family, resides
with the, 222, 224
Bertrand, Madame, his treat-
ment of, 232, 233
Character of, 9-20, 231-233
Egyptian campaign, on the,
160-162, 171
Elba, departure for, 36-49 ;
voyage to, 50-68 ; landing
at, 70 ; at, 70-114 ; return
from, 145, 146
Enghien, Due d', on, 19,
218
England, The Invasion of,
on, 88-90, 139-142, 186,
192, 194, 214
English Church, questions on
the, 135, 136
Ferdinand of Spain, on, 132
French Navy, on the, 62-64,
199, 201-205
French people, on the, 147,
150, 159, 168, 173, 192
Government representative,
on, 166, 167
Jaffa, The poisoning story, on,
174-178
INDEX
245
Napoleon (continued) —
Life, gives account of his,
209-219
Line, Crossing the, 198
Longwood House, at, 225-228
Marie Louise, on marriage
with, 151-154
Marmont, on treachery of,
83-8S
Naples, Queen of, advice to,
157
Northumberland, The, re-
moval to, 119
Paris fortifications, on the,
191
Paul, Czar, on, 189, 190
Prussia, The Queen of, on,
178-182
Russian campaign, on, 123,
188, 207
St. Helena, arrived at, 220
Toulon, Siege of, on, 56
Trafalgar, Naval preparations
after, 17, 18
Wagram, Battle of, on, 207
Walcheren, The, expedition,
on, 55
Waterloo, The Battle of,
on, 130, 131, 147-149, 159,
160
"Napoleon at Fontainebleau
and Elba," 55
" Napoleon's Last Voyages," 21
Napoleonic Studies, 60, 81
" Naval History," James, 93
Nelson, Lord, 16, 60, 93, 94, 95,
199, 203, 206
Netherlands, The, 17
Nevers, 11 1
Ney, Marshal, 103, 146
Nice, 105
Niddry, Lord, 208
Nile, Battle of the, 203
Northumberland, The, 12, 14,
18, 21, 116, 118, 191, 196,
228
O
O'Gorum, Sergeant, 72
O'Hara, General, 56
O'Meara, Mr. Barry, 12, 137
Ord, Sir John, 92
Ossian, 136
Ottoman Porte, 127
Paris, 18, 31, 37, 81, 82, 83, 85,
134, 152, 173, 185, 191, 211,
212, 213, 216
Paris, Treaty of, 87
Paul, Czar, 189, 190
Pauline, Princess, 76
Pellew, Sir Edward, 66, 77, 104
Peninsula, The, 105
Persia, 190
Peruvian, The, 126, 155, 191,
208
Petit, General, 111
Phaeton, The, 233
Pianosa, Island of, 74
Piombino, 69, 108, 112
Pichegru, M., 216, 217
Plymouth, 21
Poland, 44, 62, 87, 102, 159, 188
Poles, The, 158, 189
Pomegue, Island of, 29
246
INDEX
Poniatowski, 188
Porto Rico, 92
Porto Santo, 164
Portsmouth, 116
Portuguese, The, 173
Prince Rupert's Fort, 93
Protestant Religion, The, 162
Provence, 32
Prussia, Emperor of, 158, 166,
178
Prussia, Queen of, 19, 178
Prussia, 178, 179, 181
Prussians, The, 80, 147, 159
Q
Querel (Querelle), 216
R
Ricils, The, 11
Redpole, The, 126, 191, 219
Redwing, The, 27, 28
Regent, The Prince, 36, 133,
Rennell, Rev. George, 135
Rhine, The, 17, 92
Rhone, The, 61, 112
Rich, Captain, 191
Rion, 73, 74
Rivoli, The, 61
Rochefort, 91, 92, 94, 98
Roman Catholicism, 79
Rome, 230
Rosebery, Lord, 10
Ross, Captain, 115, 116, 125,
126, 128, 191
Russia, 87, 142, 149, 153, 158,
159, 188
Saint Antonio, Island of, 172
Saint Bernard Mountain, 78
Saint Dizier, 81
Saint Etienne, 53
Saint Florent, Gulf of, 66
Saint Helena, Island of, 9, 10,
11, 12, 15, 118, 93, 115, 207
209, 219, 220, 225, 234-237
Saint Lucia, 93
Saint Petersburg, 123
Saint Tropez, 37, 38, 39, 40, 108
Saint Vincent, Cape, 97
Saliceti, Commissioner, 210
Sanhedrim, The, 102
San Domingo, Island of, 52, 87,
93. 163
Savary, 19
Savona, 58, 105, 106, 212
Savoy, 211
Saxony, King of, 159
Scheldt, The, 17, 62
Schoovalof, Prince, 43, 48, 109
Schwarzenberg, General, 80, 81,
82, 84
Seeley, Sir John, 11
Sicily, 157
Sidmouth, Lord, 50, 51
Sinclair, Major, 39
Sinclair, Sir John, 27
Smith, Lieutenant, 48, 66
Smith, Sir Sydney, Admiral,
in, 177
Soult, Marshal, 103, 131, 207
Spain, 53, 54, 87, 91, 173 ; King
of, 173
Spencer, Hon. Captain, 27
Spithead, 238
INDEX
»47
Stirling, Captain, 191
Strasburg, 218
Surinam, 93
Sweden, 103
Talleyrand, Marshal, 19, 86,
218
Terrare (Tarare), 53
Texel, The, 88, 94
Tilsit, Treaty of, 60, 178, 179
Tippoo Saib, 127
Tonnant, The, 117
Touche-Treville, Admiral de la,
9 1
Toulon, 35, 56-60, 61, 62, 91,
103, 105, 112 ; Fleet, 124,
210
Towers, Captain, 77
Trafalgar, Battle of, 15, 17,
63. 143
Troyes, 81
Truxo, Comte, 43, 48, 109
Turks, The, 161
U
Undaunted, The, 12, 14, 27, 29,
42. 48, 72, 75. 99. 101
Ussher, Captain, 11, 14, 15, 16,
38, 62, 99, 113, 114, 184;
diary of, 20 ; note on, 23-25
Utrecht, Treaty of, 59
Uxbridge, Lord, 208
Valence, 86
Valencay, 133
Vandeleur's Brigade, 18
Veitch, Mr., 165
Venice, 61, 87
Vergennes, Chief Minister of
France, 50
Verhuel, Dutch Admiral, 44, 88
Victorieuse, The, 39, 42, 114
Vienna, 55, 157
Vigo, 96, 98
Villeneuve, Admiral, 90, 91-98,
143
Vincent, Colonel, 69
Virgil, 73
Vitry, 81
Vivian Brigade, 18
W
Walcheren expedition, 55
Waterloo, Battle of, 18, 130, 131,
147-149, 159, 160
Wellington, Duke of, 83, 148,
160, 208
Western Island, 238
Westropp, Captain, 191
Weymouth, The, 126
White, Captain, 155, 191
Wilkes, Mrs., 228
Wilson, Sir Robert, 177
Wintzingerode's cavalry, 81
Worcester, 16
Zenobia, The, 126, 128, 191, 209,
220
Zephyr, The, 26, 191
Zuyder Zee, The, 62
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UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,
WOKING AND LONDON.
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